Evolution Squared
by Amuanet
Summary: JeanRogue movie slash. A growing friendship and the exploration of each other's powers. FINISHED
1. A small victory

Hey everyone! Taking a break from WWWII and writing a Jean/Marie slash fic. It might get saucy, I don't know yet. I just love J/M stuff and since I've only been able to find three, I thought I'd try to change that! So you know, the Dune series is a WONDERFUL series of books. Basically, an Abomination is a child who is born knowing all the memories of his or hers' ancestors, and is in danger of having those personalities take over. Marie isn't speaking in her Southern accent, so just imagine it is. J Also, this is an X1 fic that begins before Logan wakes up. 

Disclaimer: X-Men belongs to Marvel and Dune belongs to Frank Herbert. I own nothing really.

----

"Hey, it's three in the morning. Why are you still awake?"

Marie looked up from her book and saw Jean standing at the entrance of the reading alcove. She smirked and thought amusingly to herself, why would a telepath need to ask what people were doing?

"Reading, I can't sleep." Marie lifted her book and waved the cover at Jean. She was reading _Children of Dune_ by Frank Herbert. "What are you doing awake?" Marie asked in return.

The telepath smiled and walked towards Marie to sit in a bean bag chair across from the teenager.

"I was checking on Logan. His wounds haven't healed yet, but they aren't infected or bruised. I can only guess that's a good sign." She reached forward and took the book Marie still held up. "The _Dune_ series; I've read them a couple times. The first book is the best though." Jean skimmed the page that Marie was on. "Alia. I liked how Herbert described her decent into insanity as Abomination."

Marie's lip twisted down and she looked down into her lap.

"I think I know what she is going through. Having different voices fighting to be heard, and having different personalities struggling to come to the surface. My mutant ability makes me wonder if I will lose myself to a sea of other people."

The older woman moved to sit as close as she could to Marie without coming in skin contact. Inwardly, Jean flinched as she felt Marie become acutely aware of the gap between them.

"That's not going to happen. We will find a way to help you. Every one of us goes through the phase where we think that we won't be able to control our powers, but in the end we all find a way." Jean paused as she smoothed down Marie's deep brown hair and continued in a lighter tone. "Besides, Alia never had the Professor and the rest of us to help her."

Marie heard the smile in Jean's voice and smiled up at her in return. The pang of physical loneliness was momentarily forgotten as she spoke.

"Plus, I think Mr. Logan and Magneto's traits are fading."

Jean smiled again.

"I've noticed. You've stopped swearing, trying to light up and smoke cigars as well as some other things." Jean said the last few words a bit coyly.

Marie's face burned red at the last comment as she remembered the days before where she was driven by Logan's desires to basically get it on with Jean. Logan's memories of the various past women he had been with still swam around in his head and Jean picked up on it. 

"It's weird. I, uh, I've only ever kissed one guy, and here I am with these… memories." Marie said awkwardly and shifted in her seat. Marie didn't want to continue down this line of conversation and inwardly scolded herself for saying anything. Jean, the beautiful woman that she was, probably didn't want to hear about some girl's problems. Without another word, Marie focused her attention onto Jean's hand, narrowed her eyes as she magnetically removed one of Jean's rings, and suspended it spinning in the air.

"From Magneto, I have his power. Which I'm thankful for. I don't wanna know what's happening in his head." She said bluntly, not knowing why she said it considering Marie knew Jean was aware of the residual mutant affects Magneto had on Marie. 

Jean raised her hand out towards the floating ring and spread her fingers. 

"Do you want to see if Erik's influence is fading too?" Jean asked.

Marie met the red head's emerald eyes briefly and nodded. She raised her own gloved hand towards the ring and spread out her fingers like the telepath. She and Jean had done this before. This telekinetic versus magnetic force tug-o-war. Before, Marie had won and whatever metal object it was that the women pulled at, was usually easily ripped from Jean's TK pull. This time, the ring stayed stationary in the air between the two women. Jean's eyes shone brightly.

"Are you trying? Don't hold back and try to convince yourself his power is leaving when it really isn't." 

Marie furrowed her brow.

"I'm trying. Really I am." She said in a strained voice.

A minute passed and the ring did not give in any direction. A thin layer of sweat was forming on both women's upper lip from the mental exertion. Another minute passed before the ring started to deform from the stress of different mutant powers pulling at it. Jean sensed that Marie's concentration was going to break, so before it did, Jean spoke, her voice breathless from the mental tug-o-war.

"Don't worry about the ring. I've got plenty more. Just pull it towards you."

Marie nodded quickly, and made one last attempt to rip the ring away, but it wasn't enough. She felt her magnetic grip begin to weaken, and for a second she thought she saw Jean's eyes flash a fiery red. However, the moment was over and the deformed ring flew forcefully into the telepath's hand. Marie and Jean doubled over in their seats, gasping for breath.

Jean laughed breathlessly between deep gasps.

"See? No Abomination. In time, people you touch fade." Jean sat up and opened her hand that held the bent ring. A red welt had formed where the ring had impacted her hand.

Marie also sat up and bit her lower lip at the damage she had done.

"I'm so sorry. Let me try to reshape the ring." She started to concentrate again but Jean shook her head.

"No. I've got more." She picked up the ring with her other hand and held it out to Marie. "Take it, and keep it so you can remind yourself that you will be in control of your power, not the other way around."

Marie smiled and enclosed the ring in her hand.

Jean stood up and rearranged the pillows. 

"Let's hit the kitchen for a snack. After that little victory, I think we should pig out." 

The younger mutant grinned as she followed Jean out of the alcove.


	2. Physical versus mental

Yeash, no matter how hard I try. I can't completely rip myself away from the X-movie universe and write. Anyway... continuing on...

---

Warren ran his hand through Betsy's hair as he continued to kiss her passionately. The Japanese telepath moaned and moved her hands up Warren's back to the base of his great white wings, where she began to work her fingers through his feathers. Warren groaned and Betsy's tongue moved deeper into his mouth. Neither was aware of Jean and Marie walking into the kitchen and catching them as they began to undress each other on the dining table.

Jean cleared her throat loudly. Both mutants were recent recruits and from what Jean gathered from their clothing, had recently returned from a long night out on the down. The Japanese girl, Elizabeth, Betsy for short, was also a telepath, and Jean found a fairly well developed one at that. Jean realized that Betsy had managed to mentally shield her and Warren's presences from telepathic minds, but obviously became too preoccupied to notice when people were coming into the kitchen.

"Ms. Grey!" Warren stammered as he hopelessly tried to pull his turtleneck back over his body.

"Not here." Jean said sternly. When she caught Betsy's telepathic suggestion to Warren, she glared and telepathically replied to all in the room.

Not there either. Back to your rooms. Your separate rooms. You have class in six hours. 

Betsy pouted for a second at Warren, but left the kitchen under the icy glare of Jean. Jean didn't care much about the personal lives of the students in this school, but sometimes people need to be discreet. Jean stood firmly as she waited for Warren to leave the kitchen. Before he left, Warren winked at Jean flashing his playboy features at the telepath. Jean looked at him coldly through her emerald eyes and telekinetically tightened the boy's boxer's shorts. Warren squawked and hobbled out, his wings flapping unattractively behind him.

Behind Jean, Marie had wrapped her arms around herself. She had removed her elbow high gloves. Marie needed to know what skin on skin felt like, even if it was only her own.

When Jean caught Marie's eyes, the teenager spoke, her voice a little ragged.

"It's not like I want that right now," She said of Warren and Betsy. "I just… I'll never have anything like that. 

Jean stepped forward and rubbed the girl's back, wishing she didn't have to be careful of where she touched. Jean opened her mouth to speak, but Bobby walked in yawning. The telepath let out a small sigh of exasperation. 

"It's a school night and most of you guys have an exam in Storm's class. Doesn't anyone sleep anymore?"

Bobby looked at her and blinked in confusion. 

"I just wanted something to drink." He pointed at the water cooler and wondered what made his biology teacher testy.

"Sorry Bobby, I wasn't frustrated at you." Jean gestured towards the cooler and used her power to fill a glass full of water and give it to the mutant in training.

Bobby thanked his teacher and noticed that Marie was in the kitchen as well.

"Rogue," he said happily. "I didn't know you would be awake."

Marie smiled sadly at him. By his reaction, she guessed he just thought she was just really tired.

"Hey Bobby. Sorry I haven't been in Storm's class. Professor's been helping me a bit more with my powers."

Bobby sipped his water. It was a bit lukewarm, and when he blew on it to chill it down Bobby was quite pleased he managed to chill it without turning it into a block of ice, which he usually did.

"That's okay. You can have a copy of my notes." Bobby glanced at Jean from the corner of his eye. She had turned and was looking through the various cabinets for food. He knew she was completely aware of what he was going to do, but was thankful for her attempt to be uninvolved. He looked back at Marie. "I was meaning to ask you sooner, but you weren't in class. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with Warren, Betts, John and me to the movies this Wednesday."

Jean suddenly dropped a box of crackers. She had a rather unwelcome image of what Warren and Betsy would be doing in a dark theater. It wasn't that long ago when she was young and hormonally driven. 

Marie shrugged.

"I'm busy that day. I've got a…" Marie fumbled for an excuse and her eyes fell onto the back of Jean's head. "Doctor's appointment. Professor Xavier wants me to check in with Dr. Grey."

Bobby nodded slightly. He missed the lie.

"Another time then. Well, I'm going back to sleep. Night Rogue. Good night, Ms. Grey."

When Bobby left, Jean turned and looked at Marie.

"Marie…" 

"Why bother?" The girl interjected as she rummaged through the fridge for yogurt. "I can't get close to people Jean, why should I tempt myself and others? I'll only get hurt more." 

"It doesn't mean you can't have friends."

Marie looked down at the tub of yogurt she held in her hands.

"You don't have to be a telepath to know that Bobby likes me more than a friend. I just can't handle that right now."

Marie suddenly lost her appetite and she returned the yogurt back into the fridge.

"I better get to sleep. I need to catch up on homework that I've missed in the past week." Marie looked up a Jean. For a second, her breath caught in her throat as she stared into the other woman's concerned green eyes. They were beautiful. Deep, dark green, like the forests that Logan had found her in. Logan's influence again. "Thanks for talking to me." She managed to say as she walked out.

"Sleep tight. I'll see you in the morning." Jean called after her.

-----

Marie stifled a yawn. Jean had woken her up at eight, telling her that the Professor wanted to do some tests with her powers. By eight-twenty, Marie was already in the mutant scanner in the infirmary. 

"Just lay still. You'll feel a buzzing feeling on your skin, but that's normal." Came Jean's voice over the built in intercom.

Marie closed her eyes and let the scanners do their work. Various bars of light traveled up and down her body. She felt the buzzing and giggled a bit as it ticked her.

"All done." Jean said as Marie slid out of the scanner and sat up. Charles Xavier was there too, and he smiled warmly at her. "The Professor is going to probe your mind." Jean stood aside as Xavier moved closer to Marie.

"Not to pry; I just want to get a better idea of the nature of your gift."

Marie nodded and sat on a stool that put her eye level with the Professor. She glanced up at Jean. The doctor was wore a sleeveless red turtleneck and a long black skirt underneath her lab coat. Her hair was neatly done up French braid and she wore all sorts of jewelry on her wrists and neck. Marie marveled at how this woman could look so awake after getting only a couple hours of sleep.

"Clear your mind." Xavier said to her. "Focus on the moment your power first manifested."

Marie winced. That wasn't a moment of her life she liked remembering, but she did as requested. For five minutes Xavier probed her mind and scanned over her memory of her power's manifestation. When he broke the link, he showed no sign of the mental exertion that a telepath like Jean would have shown after scanning someone's mind.

"Jean? Could you send those lab tests up to my office and meet me up there in an hour? I'd like to take a look at everything we've learned today."

"Of course Professor." Jean tapped on her computer and sent the files over to Xavier's computer in his office.

Xavier turned back to Marie.

"As for you, I apologize for waking you so early. Especially after the late night you had. Go get some breakfast; I hear Scott is making waffles. After, can we meet in my office in an hour?"

Marie nodded and left the infirmary. Jean looked down at the Professor.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest? You only woke up from coma two hours ago."

Charles smiled at her as he moved his wheel chair towards the exit. 

"Helping these children recognize their gift is the only rest I need."

Jean watched her mentor leave and then turned back to her other patient, Logan. Jean needed to change his bandages again.

----

"Marie, the test confirms what we first believed about your power. It's a physical one and not one brought on by mental capacities. This said I cannot just put a mental block in your mind to stop your power."

"But why not? You said that mutant brainwaves are different from humans. Can't you isolate the ones that are different and block them?" Marie asked.

Xavier shook his head.

"Only those who are, for example, telepaths, tele, hydro or pyrokinetic, can have mental blocks. The rest, like Scott, need outside sources to stop their powers." Xavier caught the growing dismay in Marie and quickly added, "But your abilities are incredibly new. In time I think your body will develop to control your power."

Marie sighed.

"How long with that be?"

"I don't know." Xavier said truthfully.

Marie nodded and stood. She thanked the Professor and Jean, who was present yet silent throughout the meeting, for helping her and left. Marie heard Jean follow her out of the office and turned to look at her.

"Do you really think I'll grow to control my power?" She asked the woman.

Jean nodded. She wasn't completely sure, but Charles was right. Marie's powers were probably still developing.

"Of course. All of us have, even me." She reached over and patted Marie's arm. "Look, I've got some things I need to take care of in the lab. Go try to have some fun in the game room okay?"

Marie looked down over the railings into the game room. Bobby was there playing foosball and from the looks like it, he was loosing badly. Maybe just one game…


	3. Shields and flowers

Darnit... I knew this would happen. My inability to write sweet, short fics! This is turning out a lot longer than I thought it would be! Humph... I'll try to finish in 7 chapters...

(Four days later. Logan has left to Canada and it is now about one am in the morning.)

"Can't sleep again?"

Marie looked up from her homework. She was in the alcove again with her books and laptop spread out on the coffee table and couches.

"Homework. I have a paper due in Professor's history class."

Bemused, Jean laughed.

"That's not due for another week!"

"I know, but I don't want to wait till the last minute."

The telepath grinned. Study skills were not her forte in high school or university. Jean walked into the alcove and sat beside Marie. Deliberately, Jean touched her bare knee to Marie's knee. 

The teenager jerked away violently and pulled blankets over her knees. These days, she rarely ever wore clothing like shorts and tee shirts, but since it was night and no one was around, Marie wore them to sleep.

Jean grabbed Marie's arm lightly with her bare hand.

"No, it's alright." Jean said soothingly.

Marie gawked at her in bewilderment. She looked at where Jean's hand wrapped around her arm and then back to Jean for an explanation.

"A shield. I'm putting a molecule thin TK shield along your skin." She replied, her green eyes shone with the intensity of concentration she needed to keep the barrier up.

The young mutant's eyes widened. It felt like it was skin on skin. She felt Jean's body warmth and even Jean's nails digging lightly into her own arm.

"Mental... spandex?" Marie said giddily. 

Jean nodded and watched, as Marie's other hand ventured to touch Jean's bare shoulder.

"Oh my god. I'm not actually touching you? It feels so... It feels like I am." Marie couldn't believe it. It wasn't skin contact per say, but it was close enough for now. She would have never known the difference if Jean never told her. Marie ran her hand down Jean's arm, drinking in the warmth, but the moment didn't last. Jean's focus broke as the effort to sustain such precise barrier became too much. She had no time to warn Marie and when Marie's skin touched her, Jean's breath caught in her throat and she felt Marie begin to drain her. 

Marie felt it too, and managed to rip herself away from Jean before any real damage occurred.

"Jean? Jean?" Marie called out frantically. She didn't dare go near the other woman so she continued to call her name to the woman who was sprawled on her back amidst the cushions. 

It took another few seconds for Jean to compose herself, but she still groaned as she sat up. Jean raised her hands to stop the almost tearful mutant's string of apologies. 

"I'm okay. My fault really. I came up with this idea over breakfast and I've only been practicing for a couple hours. I wasn't really ready to try it out." Jean rubbed her arm where Marie had touched her. She looked up and saw the young teenager crouched low in the pillows staring at her wide-eyed. "Hey," Jean said to her. With her mind, Jean reached out and telekinetically brushed Marie's cheek. "Don't be like that. It was my fault. Now come on, pack your books. I've got something else I want to try that won't hurt either of us."

----

She and Jean sat across from each other at a stone table in Storm's arboretum. Jean had placed some freshly cut flowers between them.

"I think that your power affects anything living. So, maybe we can start resistance training with something small."

Marie raised an eyebrow, but removed her gloves and picked up a flower. Immediately, the veins in the flower bulged as then wilted.

"I'm not going to grow roots am I?" Marie asked hesitantly.

Jean chuckled. 

"I don't think so. Besides, we'll only go through maybe five flowers tonight. I'm sure Storm doesn't appreciate me hacking away at her flowers without her permission."

Marie perked up as she understood what was happening.

"Oh! Are we going to see if I've developed a physical control by seeing if I affect flowers"?

Jean tilted her head.

"Not really. While I believe the Professor's conclusion about your powers and how it is a physical one, I also believe that your power follows the same laws as other physical functions. Like breathing. We all have to breathe, it is a physical function. But we can make ourselves hold our breath and therefore, stop breathing for a little while."

Marie nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay, what should I do then?"

Jean made a perplexed sound. She wasn't sure what the next step was either, but spoke anyway. When Xavier trained Jean to develop her telepathic and kinetic skills, he often got her to visualize her power as an object that she, if in the real world, could manipulate. Jean thought this would be a place to start.

"Maybe try visualizing your power as a river. And then picture a dam blocking it. Eventually the dam will break, but for a while, the water will be kept at bay."

Marie nodded and relaxed in her seat. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Jean waited until she sensed that the river image was firmly implanted in Marie's mind before placing another flower in the teen's upturned palm. The flower, unfortunately, wilted right away.

Marie's eyes opened and she looked disappointedly at the flower.

"The image of the river broke when the flower was placed in my hand. I couldn't keep focused."

Jean had thought that would happen.

"That happens a lot. It takes a bit of training to be very mentally focused. But it's a place to start. The Professor can help you with that. If you ask him, he won't say no."

Marie cocked her head to the side a little.

"Could you teach me instead? I mean, we've already started and the Professor is usually busy with the new and younger kids."

Jean hesitated, but then nodded.

"Sure I can." Jean broke out in a grin. "It might be a bumpy lesson though, I've never taught anything like this before."

Marie smiled as she wore her gloves again. 

"I'm sure I'll survive."


	4. Training Buddies

I actually don't know how hot it gets in New York because I have unfortunately never had the chance to visit much of Eastern North America. As I live on the West Coast, our summers are very mild, so I basically have this assumption that it's pretty warm in the East come May-June. Tsk for me, I'm a geography student. What would my climatology prof say to me now...

(Three months later since the last chapter and ooo, it's fun in the sun for our kids at the Xavier's institute. Yes, it's summer time. Oh and Scott's off to teach field school. NOT find his brother.)

Scott leaned against the back porch railing of the Mansion and peered into the backyard garden. It was summer in New York and even past dusk, the air was still warm. _There they are._ Scott thought to himself as he spied Jean and Marie sitting cross-legged across from each other on a blanket spread on the grass. Scott had seen them train their skills before, and by the way Jean held out her right hand over Rogue's face, Scott figured she was practicing her telepathy today. The X-Men leader sighed, sat on the porch steps and continued watching from afar.

Rogue! Here! Look out! Magneto's behind you! Jean shouted in Marie's mind while simultaneously projecting flashes of battle scenes into the girl's mind. She was testing Rogue's ability to stay focused and keep her gift in check. At the same time, she pushed her limits as a telepath by not only communicating via the mind, but also projecting images into another's. Throughout the past three months since Jean and Rogue had first tried on the 'mental spandex,' she and Marie had practiced their powers on each other almost everyday. Rogue dared not to touch Jean yet, but continued to work on her ability to stop her draining abilities on flowers. It took nearly a month and a half, and hundreds of Storm's flowers to gain the mental focus needed, but Rogue had done it. Now she was working on lengthening the time she was able to hold her ability at bay.

Jean on the other hand continued to develop precise control over her telekinesis by continuing to maintain the TK shield around Rogue as she ran around or jumped up and down while touching Jean. The red head also practiced her telepathy on Rogue. Telepathy involves reading minds and essentially being incredibly intrusive on another's mind. As such, Jean found it awkward to ask even her closest friends if she could practice this particular skill. While the Professor did help her, Jean often felt she was taking time away from him in which he could be helping the younger and newer mutant recruits. Rogue on the other hand insisted that Jean practice on her. Marie's rational was that since she had often come in skin to skin contact with Jean throughout the training, Marie felt it was unfair that she was always the one being intrusive on another's mind.

Rogue was doing well today. Her concentration held fast against the torrent of images Jean beset on her mind. Pleased with her student's progress, Jean upped the ante on herself and Marie. She set the TK shield in place and with her free hand, Jean touched Marie's bare knee. In addition, Jean moved the strands of hair around Rogue's face with her TK and tickled the teen's face and neck. Jean smiled as a gigantic smile broke out on the girl's blank expression.

"Stop that." Marie said, her eyes still closed as she continued to maintain her focus.

Jean chuckled and changed the images she put in Rogue's mind. She projected an image of herself childishly tickling Marie's feet with a feather while telekinetically moving the blanket they both sat on against Rogue's bare toes.

Rogue's eyes snapped open and she fell over laughing loudly. In her hand, the flower wilted.

The telepath broke off the mental link, but not the TK shield, and pounced on Marie. Jean grabbed her Marie's feet and tickled it for real.

"Goochie goochie goo! Ha! I can't believe you're ticklish!" Jean cried out, cackling.

"Cut it out!" Rogue laughed as she flailed about, waving her arms and kicking her feet.

On one particular kick, Marie caught Jean firmly on the chin and the TK shield came crashing down. From afar, Scott saw his girlfriend stiffen as dark veins appeared on Jean's hands. He bolted upright, ready to move in, but Marie had already torn herself away from Jean and moved back, waiting for the red head to recover.

"Okay." Jean said between gasps. "I think that's enough for today."

Rogue nodded, stood up and slipped on her flip-flops while waiting for Jean to stand. Throughout the past three months, skin to skin contact had been a reality of their training and Jean almost seemed like she was getting over the drain-shock faster as time went on.

"I think we're getting better." Marie said cheerfully as she looked up at the darkened sky. "We were at that for what? Two hours?"

Jean looked down at her watch. It was almost nine.

"Wow. That went by really fast." Jean stopped walking for a second and stretched her back. "But I'm feeling it now."

Rogue looked up at Jean as they continued back to the Mansion.

"The others say that my hair is starting to look a little red, and that my eyes sometimes seem flecked with green. Do you think your height will rub off on me too?"

Jean laughed.

"I'd hope not. It's hard being tall. Clothing is too small and you can't find the right size shoes. Why do you think I'm padding around in my bare feet? No one makes slippers that fit me. Besides, I think the hair and eyes will revert back to your normal colour eventually. But can you imagine what it would feel like if your body shot up to 5'11 and then shrank down to 5'5? Talk about osteoporosis!" 

The two mutants arrived at the porch and Scott stood up the greet them.

"Had fun?" Scott asked, looking at the both of them.

Rogue nodded.

"Of course. But I better go find Logan. Bobby said he came back today and I need to give something back to him." Rogue bade the couple goodnight and ran into the house.

Scott turned back to Jean and kissed her lightly.

"You're really liking this aren't you."

It was a statement more than a question and Jean smiled in response.

"I am. I think I know what the Professor feels. Being able to help someone develop his or her powers. It's like nothing else, Scott. Nothing compares to the look they have as they realize they have control."

Scott laughed as they entered the Mansion and began walking to the garage. He remembered the moment when Marie was able to hold out against her powers. Jean had become sick after chasing down a new mutant through the sewers of New Orleans and was unable to help Rogue for over a week. Rogue, determined to harness her power, continued with her training and when she had managed to reach the level of mental focus needed, she burst into Jean's room at midnight screaming her success. Of course Jean didn't mind being woken up so suddenly, but spent the next give minutes coughing instead of laughing with joy. 

Scott's expression sobered a little.

"So, I guess we'll go out to dinner when I come back?"

Jean blinked and made a clueless noise.

"What?" Jean's bewildered look quickly turned to shock. "Oh my god! Is it Tuesday? I forgot! I completely forgot!"

Scott signed but calmed Jean down.

"Hey, it's okay. You were busy."

Still frantic, Jean pleaded.

"Can we go now? It's not that late is it?"

Scott laughed softly. 

"Jean, the reservation was for seven-thirty, and my flight is at midnight tonight. I need to go to the airport now. You know, for customs."

Sniffling, Jean hugged Scott.

"I'm so sorry Scott. I promise, when you're back from New Zealand, I am going to devote an entire week, no an entire month to you! Let me go with you to the airport."

Scott patted her back but shook her head.

"No. The Professor said that Storm found a dozen mutant children today in Buenos Aires' landfills. They're in really bad shape. She's flying back tonight and you'll need all the rest you can get before they arrive. I'll see you in five months okay?"

Jean sniffled again but nodded. They were in the garage now and it was apparent that Scott had loaded the rental car with luggage earlier. Scott suddenly smiled.

"You know, I thought I had to be worried about Logan taking up all your time, but I guess I forgot about Marie." He said jokingly as he kissed her lightly on the lips and then entered the car.

Jean waved and stood in the driveway until she no longer heard Scott's car.


	5. Bigger

This is two months after the last chapter. And remember how I said Scott was looking for his brother? Uh, yeah no. Forget that. J He's off teaching a summer field school in New Zealand for the X-kiddies. I made Jean a mini environmentalist. She's using a reusable coffee mug and refuses to take a plastic bag after she buys something and is against animal testing. Things that I hope rub off on more people. J Happy reading. 

"Be back in two hours alright?" The Professor said.

There was a murmur of understanding amongst the fifteen students before they scattered out throughout the mall. Charles and Jean walked about on their own, occasionally keeping mental tabs on the students, but more or less left them to have some fun. It was the summer semester at the Xavier Institute and most of the students had either returned home or gone with Scott or Storm on a field school. The two and a half dozen or so that remained in the Institute were usually students that had run away, or were kicked out by close minded families.

"It's been an exciting year hasn't it?" Charles said as the two adults wandered rather aimlessly in the mall.

Jean made an agreeing sound as she sipped her tea.

"Magneto and the Registration Act certainly made it that. Although, I think it's been a bad exciting year, not good exiting year."

"Indeed it has. Have you been in touch with Scott?"

Jean made the sound again as she finished her tea and tucked her travel mug into her small backpack.

"He's doing fine and so are the students. He emailed me two days ago, but I haven't had the time to email him back."

Jean stopped and peered into a display case of a clothing store. There was a dark blue tank top with a white tiger print on the front that caught her eye. Jean gazed at it for a few seconds more before excusing herself for a moment to purchase it.

Charles waited at the entrance, amused, as Jean was probably ten years older than the other customers there. Jean strolled out and rolled the tee shirt up before stuffing it into her backpack. It was nearing its carrying capacity.

"For Marie?"

Jean nodded before continuing their stroll in the mall.

Charles smiled to himself. He couldn't help himself.

"I'm incredibly impressed with Marie's progress thus far. But, I'm more impressed by you."

Jean blushed a little and gave wiry smile to the Professor. 

"It's what you taught us to do. This is what you wanted each of us to do eventually."

"I'm speaking of your powers. I always though you were capable of so much more, but none of us, me nor Scott or Ororo could figure out how to bring it out with you. I'm happy that someone finally has."

(A couple days later.)

Jean lay on her belly on Marie's bed, with her long legs tangling off the other end. She peered over the shoulder of Marie, who sat on the floor with her back to the bed. She wore the blue tank top Jean got her, and was finishing one of her assignments for her summer biology class with Dr. McCoy. In her left hand, she held a flower. Rogue had reached the point where she could do everyday tasks and still hold her power in check.

"Damn. Lost my page. Where's that chart on bacterial infections?" Marie muttered to herself.

"Page 372." Jean said as she used her TK to open the textbook to the page Rogue needed.

Marie turned her head to look at Jean with a smirk.

"You know, TK is making you very lazy."

Jean scoffed.

"Me? Lazy? Never!" She then proceeded to telekinetically cuff Marie lightly on the back of her head.

Marie grumbled and stuck her tongue out at the telepath, turned back to her homework and finished it off. Marie sighed and checked the time. It was six in the evening and she had nothing else to do for the rest of the night.

"Why don't you hit the pool? Maybe Bobby's there."

Marie cleaned up her books and looked strangely at Jean.

"I'm not interested in him you know. Besides, he went home at the end of last semester and goes out with Lorna now."

Jean raised an eyebrow. She didn't know Bobby had moved on. Along with Jean's increased ability to read minds, she could block out the minds of others as well.

"Eh, he got tired of waiting for me to develop a way to block my powers." Rogue shrugged, turned around and sat back against Jean's bed. Now that it was summer, most of the occupants who still lived in the Mansion moved in together to make it less lonely to stay in the huge home. 

"But you have." Jean tilted her chin towards the flower that Rogue still held clasp in her hand.

Marie hesitated.

"I haven't told anyone really. Only you, the Professor, Logan, Mr. Summers and Storm know. I didn't think that holding out against flowers was the biggest achievement in the world."

Jean frowned. She had noticed that Rogue didn't interact with the other students that much, and spent much time doing focus training either by herself or with Jean and doing homework. Jean watched Marie listlessly pluck the petals from the flower, and lightly scanned Rogue's mind. She saw memories of the other students celebrating their control. Memories of Betsy, who now called herself Psylocke, were strong in Marie's mind. Jean saw how Betsy taunted Marie with her psychic blade. Jean's lip curled up in anger.

"That little spoiled brat."

Rogue looked up, an eyebrow raised in interest over Jean's sudden comment.

Jean turned a little red.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

Marie smiled slyly at Jean. She knew what Jean had done.

"You don't have to be worried about me getting annoyed at you for reading my mind." Rogue looked back down at her petal-less flower. "My mind is open to you. You know that." She paused and held the flower up before her and continued talking. "I don't even have to think about keeping my power in check. It's the opposite now. I can turn my ability on," the flower wilted partially and stopped, "and off." 

Jean leaned forward over the bed and took the flower. She twirled it between her fingers and then looked back at Marie.

"Do you want to try something bigger?"

"I have." Rogue reached up and ran her hand through the large plant on the table that sat between the two mutants' beds. The plant didn't wilt and Rogue suddenly laughed.

"It's been two weeks since I last absorbed a flower. The urge to try to... pollinate... has left and my need to photosynthesize has lessened too."

Jean snickered and nodded. She ran TK shielded fingers lightly down Marie's tanned, bare shin.

"Your tan is fading." Jean pulled her hand back and continued speaking. "When I mean bigger Marie, I mean bigger." She waited for the teen to comprehend what she was implying.

Rogue's eyes bugged out for a second.

"Jean, I'm not ready. You saw two weeks ago that I can't control my power against you."

Jean nodded as she remembered.

"I know. But I think it's because every time you focus now, you focus your power to be restricted against the flower. Maybe if you focused on me, you can stop your power against me."

Marie furrowed her brow.

"But that will take another two months or more. Look at how long it took for me to hold out against a flower."

Jean sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"No. It took you that long because you needed to develop the mental focus. You have that focus. Now, all you need is to apply it to a new target. Apply it to me."

Rogue looked deeply into Jean's eyes. _Is Jean right? _She asked herself._ Can I do this? No. It's too good to be true. This process needs to take more time. This is too big of a jump! From vegetation to humans? Shouldn't I be trying it out on animals first or something? _

Jean looked sharply at Rogue. She caught the last suggestion and automatically reacted negatively to the idea of animal testing.

"Sorry. I didn't mean..." Marie quickly said, but Jean waved it away.

"No, it's just instinct for me. Marie, I know you can do this."

"But I..." Marie stopped mid-sentence as she and Jean started to float up in the air. They were suddenly no longer in their room, but floating in a forest that came complete with singing birds and chattering squirrels.

Who would have thought I could develop my TK from lifting a book or closing a door to this? And my telepathy, which half a year ago, I could barely sustain a mental link, much less easily communicate or implant images in the mind. And I am, Marie, far past the age where most mutant ability development takes place.

The image vanished and Jean and Rogue floated to the ground. Jean continued speaking, but not with the mind.

"Marie, you can do this. I believe you can. I know you can."

Jean sensed the turmoil of emotions swirling in the girl. Anxiety, longing, disbelief, insecurity, fear, hope, excitement; Marie was feeling everything possible within a matter of seconds. But, hope and excitement won the emotional battle. 

"We'd better go pee now. I don't know how long this will take. I'm so nervous." Marie stood up shaking and almost fell over. She swallowed hard and looked over at the meditation kit the Professor had given her months before. She hadn't used it for quite some time but decided now was a good time to use it again.

"Time to break out the big guns." And with a determination never before seen, she looked Jean in the eye. "Let's do this this."


	6. A few seconds

Holy crap. It's 12am. I worked till 10:30 PM and I haven't eaten dinner, and I'm still writing. God I'm obsessed!

Here it is kids. The land mark chapter. I hope I do the slash universe justice.

Like every time before, Jean and Marie sat cross-legged across from each other on the floor. This time, instead of the garden, or in their room, Jean and Marie sat in Cerebro. Cerebro was soundproof and none of the machinery in the room made any sound. Marie placed her hands together with the back of her left hand on the top of her right palm. In her palm, rested the fist-sized moonstone, which Professor Xavier had given her. Whether or not it held any mystical, focusing attributes was not known. All Marie needed was to have something solid that she felt would anchor her. 

Jean sat patiently in front of Marie. Jean didn't know how long she sat there and wasn't sure if she had been sitting there for five minutes, or fifty minutes. It seemed as if time itself had stilled, fearing its passing would disrupt Rogue's concentration. Jean had spent the months before sitting and studying Marie's features in depth as Marie did focus training, and even without her telepathy, Jean knew Marie was not completely focused. The occasional slight twitch of her eyelid, or the insignificant skip in her breathing gave it away. Signs that were imperceptible to others, even Logan with his enhanced senses, yet visible to Jean. The telepath sat perfectly still and simply took in Rogue's features. Rogue was definitely well on her way to becoming a beautiful woman, and for the first time, Jean's heart seemed to flutter as she watched Rogue. The feeling passed as Jean thought of Marie's personality. How sad it was that Rogue kept everyone at bay. Understandable, yes, since her powers conflicted with being close, but Jean could see Rogue continuing to hold others at bay even if her powers were not an issue.

"Opening that much, and telling so much of yourself to others is scary, I think. That person could always leave you, and even if you promise to stay friends forever, it's different. Opening up isn't so much letting people in, but giving a piece of yourself away forever. With Cody, I opened up to him, and even if he does wake up from coma one day, he wouldn't want me. I know he hates mutants, and I feel I have left a part of me with him. A part of me that he'll either forget, or hate forever." Marie had said during one of their late night conversations.

"Do you think I would do that? I'll never leave you, Marie. And if I do, nothing would change. And I could never, ever forget you or hate you." Jean had replied. Marie had said nothing, but Jean wasn't expecting her to.

Jean's thoughts returned to the present and she looked deeply into the young woman's face. Jean had seen into Marie. Every time Marie had let Jean into her mind, Marie let Jean in one hundred percent. No one, not even Scott let her do that. Even if the person said they didn't hide anything, subconsciously they did. With Marie, Jean knew everything about her, and knew more than anyone had or ever would. Her fears, hopes, likes, her everything; Marie shared openly with the telepath. In return, Marie knew everything about Jean. How could Jean deny Rogue anything less? It wasn't the effect of Rogue's power, but like Marie had voluntarily opened her mind to Jean's telepathy, so did Jean open her mind to Rogue during their telepathic links. Never had Jean been so close to someone before in her life. And never had Jean wanted to touch someone so much in her life.

In the pit of Jean's stomach, a deep, gaping feeling formed and welled up to Jean's throat that almost caused her to gasp. Jean's eye's widened at the realization of what she felt. Jean didn't love Marie like she loved Scott. No, this was far beyond that. It was something more powerful that she couldn't find the words for and it scared her like nothing before.

__

Why now? She wondered bewilderedly, as she felt her feelings for Marie magnify ten fold now that they had been revealed. Jean fought the trembling that suddenly siezed her body, but Jean knew what she felt wasn't wrong. It was true, and it was good. Jean silently took a deep breath and stilled her fluttering heart. Marie was ready now. Her body language was cool, calm and ready. Jean looked at her for a second more, and knew what she needed to do.

Without the slightest rustle from her clothing, Jean leaned forward. She placed her two hands flat on the floor by Marie's hips, rose up slightly on her knees and kissed Marie lightly on her lips. Jean wasn't using her TK shielding and didn't worry about Rogue's power activating. What frightened her more was what Rogue's reaction would be. Would she pull away disgusted? Would Rogue close off her beautiful mind to her now? Jean didn't want to use her telepathy to know the answer. She simply enjoyed the moment, hoping it wouldn't be the last and waited for time to pass.

At first, Marie was still and lifeless against Jean's shy mouth, but then, Rogue's kissed back. Her kiss light and unsure. Jean's heart soared as she felt Rogue's response and helplessly moved in deeper to kiss Marie harder. When Rogue responded a second time, Jean felt as if her soul had caught fire. 

Rogue broke off the kiss a little reluctantly, and Jean felt the disbelief and joy in Rogue as she realized that her power was in check. Rogue kept her eyes closed, like Jean; she wanted this moment to last.

"This isn't a joke or a test right? No TK? No mental image?"

"No joke. No test." Jean said while she kissed Rogue again. "I would never do that to you." Jean kissed Rogue again, deep and hard and slipped her left hand an inch up Marie's tank top. With her right, Jean traced Rogue's ear and then rested it against Marie's neck. Marie's pulse was strong and even despite these new revelations.

Rogue lost herself in Jean's kiss. Jean finally linked their minds together and Rogue felt the awesome emotion Jean had for her. There was no word in any dialect of the world that could possibly encompass the magnitude of this passion, but Rogue and Jean didn't need words. Marie raised her right hand and ran it up and down Jean's right arm twice before it slid down to the wrist. Something was on Jean's wrist that blocked Rogue from touching the skin. It irritated Rogue that there would be a barrier and so, she pulled at it. Her fingers ran against it as she tried to feel what it was that dared intrude on their intimacy. Metal, it was a metal bracelet. And it was from Scott.

__

I wanted to give this to you during dinner, but you were busy. It is set with five diamonds. One for every month I am gone. Every time you miss me, look into the diamond and see how fractured the image behind it is, and know that I am like that without you. Fractured. I love you Jean and I'll see you in five months.

For some reason, Marie suddenly vividly remembered the note left by Scott the night he left to teach field school even though she had only scanned it once. 

__

No. This is wrong. What am I doing? Marie started to think to herself. Her pulse became stronger and faster as she started to panic. _Scott and Jean are happy together. What am I doing? This isn't right._ Marie's heart pounded frantically as fear consumed her. She wanted so much to pull away from the kiss, but her body wasn't responding. Jean must have become aware of Marie's realization as her kiss became desperate. Rogue wasn't the only one whose body didn't do what was wanted. This only added to Marie's panic, and as her adrenaline kicked in, her body reacted.

Both women became aware that Rogue's power had kicked in. Jean felt the gut wrenching feeling on her body and mind as Rogue began to drain her, and Rogue felt the essence of Jean begin to fill her. But neither pulled away. Both rose on their knees and moved closer, forcing their skin to touch even though their minds screamed at them to break apart. _A few seconds more._ Jean and Rogue thought in conjunction. 

But a few more seconds turned to be too much. Jean stiffened, moaned and slumped into Rogue's arms. Marie finally opened her eyes for the first time since she began her training in Cerebro. Her vision was slow to adjust to the light and when she finally saw the aftermath of their kiss, Rogue gagged in horror.

Their skin, every place that they had touched, was laced with dark, ugly blue veins. Jean was still keeled over in Marie's arms and the skin that still touched was bumpy from upraised veins that pulsated. Rogue dropped Jean onto the ground and backed away. She could feel Jean's memories swirling in her. She knew every memory Jean had up until she lapsed into oblivion. Marie could feel her mind expand as she was suddenly gifted with telepathy and telekinesis. She tried to scan Jean's mind with the stolen telepathy, but either she failed, or there was nothing in Jean's mind. Fearing that Jean might have died, Rogue tried to check for Jean's pulse, but the instant her finger's touched Jean's bare neck, their skin exploded in the blue veins and Rogue snatched her hand back. 

Rogue commanded Cerebro's doors opened and ran out to find help, but skidded to a stop as she realized she couldn't leave Jean there by herself. She stood frozen as she debated with herself to run and find help or stay with Jean. She couldn't do either without making her feel things were getting worse, so without a second thought Rogue clenched her eyes shut, balled her fists and screamed out with her mind. 

HELP ME! 

The mental scream reverberated through the minds of everyone in the Mansion and the Mansion shook as a telekinetic shock wave rippled out from Rogue.

(Okay... I have to sleep! It's 1am and I worked till 10:30 PM without dinner! Don't kill me for leaving it like this! I had to make it angsty! ... and I'm so tired. I can't type properly anymore. I'll probably read this tomorrow and realize the hideous typos I've made. Thank god for spell check. I'll continue tomorrow okay?)


	7. Aftermath

(I'm not a doctor, so I don't know anything really about coma, and the effect it has on people after 10 days. So, if you're a doctor and you're gagging over my miss-representation of this medical situation I'm really sorry.:-S)

"Nothing?" Hank asked as he deftly juggled four medical instruments with one hand.

"Nothing." Xavier sighed and rubbed his temples. For ten days, Xavier had come to the infirmary and telepathically scanned for Jean in her own mind. "Empty, like a blank slate." 

Hank replaced the IV drop and tapped on a monitor.

"Maybe, our young Marie has..."

"Absorbed Jean completely?" Xavier suggested when Hank failed to continue the sentence. "I don't know. I didn't think so, but as more days pass, I begin to wonder. I will try again in an two hours."

---

Marie sat with her knees clasped tightly to her chest. She spent her days now hiding in secluded areas of the Mansion. Today, it was a corner in the Library. Marie had gone often to see Jean, but it only served to make her feel sicker with confusion and guilt. For the past ten days since the training accident, Rogue kept herself from the others, save for the ones, like Xavier and Hank, who tried to help her and Jean. The mental scream emitted from her brought everyone clamoring down to Cerebro. Thankfully, Xavier had been there first to see the aftermath. He closed the door to Cerebro, locking out the other students so they would not see the spider web of veins that were still stark and ugly on the two women's face and body. Still, the other students knew Rogue was the one who incapacitated Jean.

_I touched her._ Marie thought to herself for the millionth time. _I touched her._

Marie closed her eyes and shuddered as her body relived the electrifying feeling. Jean's memory of the event bubbled forth and merged with her feelings, and Marie had to hold her breath against the onslaught of memory. Marie shifted uncomfortably as Scott entered her thoughts. The memories of Jean showed she still felt something for Scott. So why did Jean feel like that towards her? 

_I should have pulled away. Everything would have been better. _Marie sniffled. She needed to rationalize what the hell had happened in Cerebro. _Jean is twenty-seven. No one figures out they're gay at twenty-seven! She probably, just misses Scott. And I'm the closest person to her so far. _ Marie thought sternly to herself. _And I'm not gay. Just... caught up in the moment. Touching... everything went too far. I was just caught up in the moment._

There, she had rationalized it to herself. Whether Marie believed it or not, was another story.

---

Jean stood at where the Cerebro helmet should have been. She was confused. A moment ago, she was with Rogue, and now Jean was alone. Jean turned in a circle and looked all about her. Cerebro was quiet and still like always. The lights were dimmed, but that was because Jean had played with the settings to make it easier for Marie.

"Hello? Marie?" Jean called out.

Silence was her answer.

Jean turned to look at the door. A moment ago she was alone, but then she saw herself and Rogue kneeling on the floor, pressed against each other and kissing. Jean walked around the image of herself and Rogue, and saw Rogue pulling at her bracelet. She saw Rogue start to panic, and then Jean saw the veins appear on both their skin. A minute later, she saw herself collapse into Rogue's arms and then the image ended.

"I must be in coma." Jean said out loud.

__

But why am I still doing here still? What I'm doing now must register as brain activity, so why hasn't Xavier been able to help me yet? She wondered.

Something caught her eye, and Jean looked up. The tiles on Cerebro shrank, and in their place images started to form. They were images of Rogue and Jean training, but the images were of every time Rogue's power activated on her. Jean turned around again and again as the images became stronger. Often, Jean had her mind linked to Rogue and the memories of what was happening in Rogue's mind surfaced too. Jean scratched her head. She was getting at something, but she couldn't quite figure it out. Jean had stopped turning, but Cerebro continued to whirl around her.

Fear. _Oh no. Jean's shield... I'm touching her. Can't touch her._

Jean turned once more around in her own mind and then stopped. The room stilled, the images vanished and the memories evaporated.

"I know." Jean said.

The door of Cerebro then opened, and Jean walked out.

---

"Jean. Sit. You've been in bed ten days; you can't be just running around the halls yet." 

"No, not yet. Professor, I know." Jean held a wad of tissue to her arm. She had ripped the IV out of her arm as soon as she woke and then went stumbling through the halls to find Xavier. In the office, Jean clumsily bumped into almost everything. 

"Jean. Sit." Xavier lifted his hand and Jean sat under the telepathic command placed in her mind.

Jean was giddy. And very hungry, but that was something she would deal with later.

"I know. Charles, I know!" She stood again, wobbling around on her long legs. " Rogue's power. It developed while we trained, but we never knew. She and I were always so busy getting her to mentally focus on blocking it when her body was doing it already."

"But she hasn't. She absorbed you." Xavier frowned. Jean, his first student, was pacing about his office. Her mind seemed a little weak and Xavier didn't want to intrude on her mind yet.

"No she has! But she was afraid of hurting me. She was scared and didn't know her power already developed. Charles, it's an adrenaline reaction. Activated by fear. I think it has been for a couple months now, but we were all convinced that it was a power that was something constant, like the beating of the heart. But it's not. When we become scared, we sweat. With Rogue, it's her power."

Xavier raised his hand again. "Sit."

Jean sat. 

"Charles, Marie needs to know." 

Xavier nodded.

"Yes, but you need to rest."

"Later."

"Then contact Scott. He knows you were in coma, but it would reassure him if it was you who told him you are better."

Jean nodded and stood up again. She moved to open the door, but when her hand touched the doorknob, Xavier spoke again.

"Now, with you and Rogue, what about Scott?"

_So he knows. Marie must have told him._

Xavier read her mind.

"Hank and I needed to know why you two were in physical contact for so long. We thought it was only for a second, and that Marie's power had increased exponentially, which would have made her more of danger to others, but it didn't."

Jean looked a deep breath, and returned back to the subject of Scott.

"I'll deal with this with Scott when the time comes." 

And then she left.

---

(The next morning.)

Marie was called to Xavier's office the next morning. Hank was there too. The gentle giant carefully monitored Jean's health even though she was awake. Marie didn't know that Jean had woken and couldn't stop staring at her as she entered the office. Jean smiled weakly at Rogue. She looked a little pale, but was neatly dressed in a light blue tank top and light khakis. Again, this woman proved she could go through hell and still look great. Xavier had explained what Jean had found out about Marie's power, and now Jean, Xavier and Hank waited for her reaction.

"I don't know. It's good I guess." She mumbled, not looking at any of the adults now.

"I can help run some tests to see if this idea is true." Hank suggested. "I'm sure I can dig up some scary movies from under my bed and that'll give you a spook or two." The newest schoolteacher made a scary face and accented the fangs he had.

Rogue couldn't help but smile.

"Sure. We should try on flowers again." Rogue met Jean's eyes briefly. "Don't want to hurt anyone else."

Hank grinned.

"So it's a date then. Maybe tonight? A dinner with movies, flowers and a beautiful young woman; I better break out my good shoes."

Rogue smiled again. In class, Rogue sometimes found it hard to focus on Dr. McCoy because he tended to juggled test tubes and beakers dangerously with one hand while lecturing. But his good-natured demeanor was something she definitely needed. Xavier adjourned the meeting and Rogue left. Like so many months before, Jean followed her.

"So this is good news." The red head said a little too happy.

"Yeah." Rogue slowed her pace, but kept on walking. She didn't know how to deal with Jean yet. Only an hour ago did she find that Jean had woken up, and Jean's memories and some of her powers were still strong in Marie. 

Jean reached out with her mind to try to touch Rogue's mind but stopped mid-stride; Rogue blocked her out.

"Marie...?" Jean, a little dismayed, called out.

Rogue turned and looked at her.

"This is weird." She said bluntly. "I'm... confused. I don't know what I feel. Nothing is mine. I feel what you feel for me in my head. I feel what you feel for Scott."

"Scott has nothing to do with this."

"I know. Jean... I..." Marie paused and fumbled for a quick fix to this situation. She needed to deny everything. "I don't think..."

Jean's shoulder's dropped a little. She had been in Rogue's mind when they kissed. She knew what Rogue felt and although Jean didn't want too, she had delved deeper into Rogue's mind without Rogue's consent or knowledge. Rogue was going to deny what she felt, and Jean didn't want that to happen.

"Rogue," Jean rarely called Marie by her coded name outside of their training, but the situation seemed to make it more appropriate. "Don't. Look, you know how I feel about you because I am in your mind. Don't lie to yourself about it. And I know I am in there, confusing you. And I know that think you reacted the way you did because you could finally touch someone."

Marie flinched. Jean and gone passed the flimsy mental blocks Marie had put up.

"Yeah, I probably would have kissed the Professor if he was in your place." Rogue mumbled a little incoherently.

Jean sighed, and suddenly felt weak. 

"When I am gone from there," Jean wanted to touch Marie's forehead, but opted for her own. "And when you are sure of what you feel, and know that nothing and no one is influencing your feelings, tell me what you feel. Tell me even if you think it will hurt me. I will wait."

Jean walked away from Rogue. She couldn't force Rogue to realize the truth about her feelings, and for a second she wished that she didn't love Rogue the way she did, but that was just sad, wishful thinking.

(What? Couldn't make it a nice Disney flick could I now. Gosh, I can so see people flaming at me for this chapter. Heehee. I'll update maybe tonight or Tuesday.8D I wonder if i've hit 10k words yet.)


	8. Evolution

Hi! I'm back! Right, so here's chapter 8. I think I'm losing my touch. I'm just a little bit too chipper to be writing angst right now... Well, I really hope you guys like it. Review, review people. I just love getting them (so long they are nice... which they all are!) as they give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Also, if you guys wanna see more Jean/Rogue fics, you've gotta write some! So, read, review and write! (Please don't flame me... i'll lay off the angst soon!)

Disclaimer: The Ring and Hannibal in no way belongs to me. Heck, I haven't even watched them. Too scary for me. Oo, the f-word is in here. So, be warned! :D

---

(3 weeks since the last chapter.)

"Hey Rogue, wake up."

Marie opened her eyes and saw Sam poking her lightly with his shielded fingers.

"Ow! That's hot!" Marie yelped as Sam touched her again. His hand was shielded in the kinetic/thermal shield that was his mutant power.

Sam shrugged and the golden light that surrounded his hand blinked out.

"Sorry. I didn't want to scare you when I woke you up."

Marie nodded and rubbed her eyes. Around her lay flowers, some wilted and some not, empty popcorn bowls and DVD cases of various horror movies.

"Good morning sunshine!" Hank vaulted over a table and landed gracefully on the arm of the couch Rogue spent the night in. "I didn't want to wake up last night after you fell asleep. Going to sleep after watching _The Ring_ isn't the easiest thing to do."

Marie shivered a little and the flower that was touching her bare knee wilted. Behind her, the phone suddenly rang and Marie yelped and dives away from it.

Sam laughed and threw the carrot he was eating at Rogue. It fell onto her bare leg and wilted immediately. Sam snickered and picked up the phone.

"Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning." He greeted. "Oh, hi Mr. Summers. Jean? Yeah, she just finished breakfast. I'll go get her."

Hank nudged Marie with his foot.

"Breakfast is getting cold, and since you're the last to wake you're doing dishes."

Marie groaned and stretched as she stood. As she walked to the washroom, she passed Jean and they exchanged glances. Rogue no longer had to look up at Jean. The full three inches that she had grown was a definite side effect of absorbing Jean, and while Jean's memories and powers had faded a week ago, the height had not. Marie bowed her head, avoiding Jean's calm green eyes and quickly walked out. Behind her, she heard Jean sigh a little before picking up the phone.

"Hi Scott..." Jean's voice faded, and as Marie scurried into the washroom, she blew out the breath she was holding.

"Nothing to deal with..." Rogue muttered to her self as she quickly crammed her toothbrush into her month and brushed vigorously. 

--- 

In the kitchen, Rogue sat around with Sam Gurthie, Alison Blair, Remy LeBeau and Piotr Rasputin. These were just some of the students that stayed at the school this summer. During the days when Rogue still possessed Jean's powers, Marie had secretly scanned the other student's minds to see if they knew the true cause of the physical contact. Thankfully, no one did and neither did anyone pry. Lately, the students had even warmed up to Rogue.

These were the students who were more or less ousted by their families. As such, they were all very open to welcoming other such 'discarded' individuals. During the past two weeks, the various students shared their mutant ability training mishaps. It was almost a contest between them, and Rogue certainly held a sort of status as she was the only one ever to incapacitate a teacher.

"I think my blowing up of Scott's sound system should be just as good. I mean, what was it? Digital surround sound? His system could blow your cloths off, but no, I blew it up first." Alison tipped her head in a cocky manner as she recapped the time when she single handedly demolished the X-Men leader's home theatre system. Alison's power allowed her to convert sound into light, lasers or photon blasts, and as such, kareoke was now banned to her.

"Well, he didn't faint." Piotr pointed out.

Alison made a gloomy face.

"But did you see what I did? It was ground zero! Even the couch was fried!"

There was a collective hum of disagreement and Alison sat back and muttered,

"Damn Rogue, knocking out Grey is going to be tough to beat."

Rogue gave a small, wry smile.

"It's not that great."

Alison narrowed her eyes and peered strangely at Rogue.

"You know, I'd kill to have your power." She chomped down on the pop tart she was eating and continued, crumbs dropping from her lips. "I mean, look you're three inches taller. That means some physical attributes of the people you touch can stay in you. Man, I'd love to have that. I could go around shaping myself this way and that way. Hmm... Brook Shield's eyebrows, Sandra Bullock's nose... forget plastic surgery! You got it set babe!" Alison hooted with laugher.

"Right. And that's enough sugar for you." Sam grabbed the two other pop tarts still on her plate and bit into them.

Rogue smiled a little. The past two weeks had been quite a turn around for her. Hank's movie tests confirmed that her powers were triggered by fear, and Rogue could now otherwise touch others.

Remy, a young mutant from New Orleans seemed to capitalize on this. He was constantly trying to cop a feel, and even now was running his foot against her calf. Marie gave him a polite smile, but pulled her leg away. 

Xavier wheeled in.

"Well, I think it's time we prepare for our trip to the beach. Rogue, do you need help with the dishes?"

Marie shook her head.

"I'll be fine. I'm feeling a little tired Professor, so I hope you don't mind if I stay home today." Out of the corner of Rogue's eye, she couldn't help but notice the dismay in Remy's face.

"Sorry to hear that. Next time then."

Rogue nodded and began piling the dishes into the washer as the others dashed out to get ready.

---

Jean flipped through her and Scott's photo album. She had just finished talking to Scott, even though it was more him talking than her. Jean had moved back into her room to give Rogue more space. Now, she sat on the queen-sized bed, alone and surrounded by photo albums.

"Jean, you stupid idiot. Why the hell did you have to go and kiss her?" Jean slumped back against the headboard and tossed the album away. "Fucked up two good relationships. What the hell were you thinking?" Jean berated herself. Jean grabbed the other pillow on the bed and pressed it onto her face. She hid her misery well from the students but didn't know how long she could keep it up. Jean reached out and picked up another album. She pushed the pillow away and looked at the new album she held up. It was the album of her and Scott during their high school years. What a happy high school sweetheart couple they were. Picture perfect. They had gone to school together and trained together as the first of Xavier's students. Scott and Jean were suppose to go get married and have happy, bouncing babies. 

But no. A kiss of death Jean had dealt, and Scott had no idea of the things that were happening now between her and Marie. The telepath couldn't tell Scott yet, but dreaded the idea of faking love around Scott when he came home. Sniffling, Jean turned over and closed her eyes. It bothered Jean that Rogue wouldn't talk to her now, and she constantly felt sick from the sense of loneliness that overwhelmed her day after day.

A soft knock came from outside.

"Jean? It's Charles."

Jean sat up and readjusted her hair while wiping the stray tear that had somehow escaped her eye.

"Come in." Jean telekinetically opened the door and watched her mentor wheel in.

"We're going to the beach soon. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Jean nodded as she began piling her albums together.

"Yes. I have to work on my presentation to the Senate. Mystique organized another meeting as Senator Kelly and wants me to speak."

"Jean, that's not for another three months."

Jean smiled weakly. 

"I just want to be prepared."

Xavier sighed and moved his wheelchair closer to Jean.

"You need to talk to her. This is hurting you both."

Jean smirked a little.

"She avoids me. And besides, she's fine without me. Hank helps her with her powers now and she's no longer alone. She can touch people now. She doesn't need me."

Xavier sighed again. 

"Marie is not fine. Her mind is in a state of confusion and denial."

Jean looked away.

"I wouldn't know." After experiencing the mental block Rogue had sent against her, Jean never again tried to read her young friend's mind.

Xavier frowned. This wasn't something he could intrude more on more, but wished for the first time that he didn't have morals regarding the use of his own powers.

Go review. But be nice? 8D


	9. Evolution Squared

And here's another chapter. 8 and 9 were originally one, but it got too long so I separated them. I hope you guys like it. I think I need some wine when reading this chapter. It seems a tad cheesy to me. :S Darnit.. not all the depressing music in the world is making me sad... I knew I should have made this a happy, fluffy Disney flick. J Review please. 8D the end is near.. the end is near...

Disclaimer: Hannibal doesn't belong to me.

---

(Four days after. Afternoon)

"You know, I think I'm becoming desensitized to this stuff." Rogue said out loud during a scene in _Hannibal_.

"I hear you. I think we completely rented out the horror section at the store." Hank yawned and stared, a little bored, at the screen of screaming people.

"I'm hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?"

Hank nodded and did a flip over the back of the couch.

As Hank and Marie entered the kitchen, Jean looked up from the coffee maker. Hank coughed politely while the atmosphere suddenly became very tense.

"Did you enjoy the movie?" Jean asked, looking at Marie, who now decided her toes were very interesting.

"Yes. But we've gotten to the point where horror doesn't really do anything for us anyway." Hank answered, knowing the question wasn't really for him.

"Well, I better go finish off my speech." Jean walked between Hank and Marie. She slowed a little in hopes to catch Marie's eye, but continued on when the young woman continued to look down at her feet.

Hank was fully aware of Jean's feelings to Marie and wished that Marie would finally stop suppressing hers and reciprocate.

"Why does it bother you so much that you love her?" Hank said bluntly.

Marie looked at him, her eyes defensive.

"I'm not gay."

"But you love her. You love Jean. I see it in the way you stand. Your breathing quickens and you tense up a bit. I'm surprised the other students haven't caught on to it yet, but it's probably because Jean tries to stay away from you around the others."

Marie rolled her eyes.

"How would you know? You're not telepathic."

"But I sure can read people, Marie."

Marie turned away and shrugged.

"I'm just nervous. Absorbing someone for that long has its affect on you."

"You two were kissing! And a lot more might I add from what the drain marks showed." Some of Hank's frustration showed through now. This was silly. Here Rogue was, a mutant marginalized by society, homophobic?

Marie stalked around the kitchen.

"I was caught up in the moment! I would have kissed you if you where there!" 

"No you wouldn't have. You don't love me. You love Jean."

"Hank, I'm not gay!"

Hank threw up his hands.

"Does it bother you that much? The idea of loving someone who isn't the opposite gender? Jean is the most wonderful person in the world and you won her heart."

"Hank, I don't like women! I'm not attracted to them and I never will be. I've looked through all those guy magazines, and I'm not into that! I don't like Alison, I don't like Jubilee, I don't like any of them!" Marie stormed around the kitchen and finally sat down at the table.

"Alright. Fine. You're not into women, but you are into one woman." Marie glared up at Hank and opened her mouth to speak, but Hank spoke first. "Love is a powerful thing Marie. And I think the most powerful form of love is when it has the ability to transcend barriers. Don't you realize what you have with Jean is at that level?" Hank sighed and sat down at the table with Marie.

"I'm not gay." Marie said one final time.

Hank folded his large hands and took a deep breath.

"Answer one thing for me then, and do it truthfully. Marie, do you love Jean?"

"N..." Began Marie, but Hank glared at her. "Yes." She said quietly. "Yes, I love her very much and I want to be with her again. But I'm not, like, homo or bi. This isn't normal." Marie looked down the table and traced a stain that was on it."Marie, first, there is nothing wrong with being gay. And second, you need to know something about society. Society classifies the crap out of everything in the effort control everything. Heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual... they are all classifications. If you don't fall in one of them, then you are considered strange. You are in love with Jean, but you aren't off lusting after women."

Marie stared at him.

"So what the hell am I?"

Hank shrugged.

"Just sexual. You and Jean just love. Regardless of gender. Your love is held back by no barrier. It just is."

When Marie just gave him a crooked look, Hank continued.

"Bottom line. Jean loves you. You love her. There are worse things in this world alright? Take it. I guarantee you that the bond you have with Jean now will never be replicated in the future." Hank paused. "I actually envy you two because what you both have. Can you even comprehend how rare it is that two people hold nothing from each other like you two did? But you're letting it go to waste the more you ignore it." Hank's voice softened a bit as he continued talking. "Rogue, if you're that scared of the utter happiness that has dropped into your lap because it doesn't fall into the societal norm that you are comfortable with, then cut her loose. Break her heart, break yours and make it a fast and clean break." Hank stood up and left the kitchen. He had left the young mutant enough things to think about, and it was up to her now.

---

Marie sat in her darkened room alone that night. It wasn't late at all, only nine or so, but after her talk with Hank all Marie wanted to do was sit in her empty room. Marie's room had been empty since Jean had left three weeks ago, but this night Rogue felt more alone than she did when she couldn't control her power. Rogue looked over to the empty bed and sniffled a little. What Hank had said to her made everything make sense, and now she was starting to feel the harrowing solitude that Jean must be feeling. Marie didn't care that she could touch people now. She would give it all back to return to the state of happiness she and Jean were at before the accident. As a tear rolled down Marie's cheek, she stood up from her bed and crawled into the other bed. The cleaning crew that managed the house had cleaned it, but if Marie inhaled deep enough she could still smell Jean's scent. Marie clutched the pillow close to her as she began to cry. Her heart ached at the emptiness that was consuming her soul. She was so use to having Jean linked to her mind, and now there was nothing. Rogue missed the times when she and Jean trained, or when they just talked about things late at night. Marie missed everything about Jean and tried to muffle her lamentation with the pillow, but she was soon sobbing uncontrollably. 

Outside a lightning storm began to roar. The thunder served to muffle Marie's cries, but the lightning only highlighted how lonely her room was. The recent heat wave sweeping the area had finally broken in the form of a summer storm and only when the storm finally began to abate, did Marie's cries lessen. The young woman lay on her side, spent, and with her face still buried in the pillow that now smelled like her tears. Her chest heaved unevenly as her cries dwindled to gulping gasps and then hiccups as Marie finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

---

Marie woke. It was 12:30 in the morning now. The storm clouds had passed and a bright full moon shone through her window. Marie sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The pillow was still wet, but Marie felt better. She stood, left her room and silently walked towards the wing that was mostly empty, save Jean and Scott's room. She felt as if she were sleep walking and more than once did she pinch her face to try to wake up. Marie soon found herself standing outside Jean's door. She rested her hand on the doorknob. _Yes, this is right. I've been terrible to her after she did so much for me._ Marie went to turn the doorknob but snatched her hand back as her hand began to shake. Images of Jean's unconscious body laced with dark veins flashed before her eyes. She tested her pulse and found it too fast and too strong. Marie relived the memories when she absorbed Jean and Marie started to back away.

"No, I'm not afraid. That won't ever again." She said softly to herself. Marie placed her hand on the doorknob again and turned.

Scott and Jean's room faced the same way hers did, and so the full moon's light poured in through the window. 

Marie made out Jean's silhouette underneath the bed sheet. The blanket was pushed to the foot of the bed. Even after the storm, it was actually a rather hot night and even the breeze that blew in through the window did little to cool. Marie quietly closed the door behind her, but flinched and silently cursed as the latch noisily clicked shut. Marie heard Jean move, and for a second Marie stood frozen in the doorway hidden by shadow. After a minute of standing, Marie moved closer and slipped onto the bed. Jean was awake, her green eyes bright in the moonlight. Silently, Jean reached out and twirled her fingers through the white lock of hair Marie had. Jean's fingers trembled a little, as if she were afraid this was just a dream.

Can't sleep? Jean whispered into Marie's mind, smiling as she was given full access again.

"I'm sorry. I was confused..." Marie said softly. Being here now, so close to Jean, vanquished all of Marie's fears.

And now? 

"I'm okay now. I know what I feel."

Jean leaned forward and placed a light kiss onto Marie's forehead.

Talk with your mind. You've let me link with you, and I've made the link stronger. You can talk to me with your mind.

Okay...

What do you feel then Marie?

Marie looked deeply into the red head's eyes and leaned forward. She kissed Jean on her lips and moved closer to the other woman's body. The telepath tasted the salty trails left by Marie's tears, and through the telepathic rapport that was now between them, Jean lived the memory in which Marie lay curled on the bed weeping her regret. The older woman pulled Rogue closer to her, and for the rest of the night the two women just lay silent against each other. No words were exchanged verbally or mentally.

Jean laid awake most of the night with Rogue's head resting on her shoulder; their arms and legs were entwined together beneath the sheet. She had listened to Hank and Rogue's conversation earlier and had hoped that Rogue would find her way. Now, she simply listened to Marie's even breathing. Near dawn, Jean slept and her dreams mingled together with Marie's.

You like? Good! Go review! And then go write a J/R fic of your own! 8D Wow, i didn't know this chapter would be this long....


	10. Bliss until reality

Harrharr. And you thought I was done...

Friendly note: In X1, Marie was going to go on a road trip with Cody. I'm assuming she was in grade 12, but didn't finish her classes because her mutant power flared up and she ran away. In my story, Rogue has basically been catching up on the courses she dropped out at Xavier's school. That means, she's at the age of university entrance. (18 years old) Also, I don't know if UCLA and University of Washington are good... but they're the only US colleges that come to mind right as now.

---

(Two blissful weeks since last chapter)

Summer rolled on and summer semester ended at the Xavier's Institute. To keep the students occupied, the teachers made constant trips to the parks and beaches. Today, though, it was a water balloon fight on school grounds.

"It's not fair! Dey got Grey. She use her telepathy." Remy grumbled as he pumped up the water pressure on his water gun.

"Don't worry. It's a no power's game, Cajun." Sam peeked over the ravine edge and peered into underbrush below. They had found the opposing team's cache of filled water balloons and now sat ready to ambush anyone that came to reload on the watery bombs. Kitty, a mutant who had the ability to phase through objects, slipped up next to them.

"Dr. Grey's coming. They just finished getting Rogue soaked and Dr. Grey's out of balloons."

Sam's eyes lit up.

"Good! Right, back to your position. We'll all hit her at once."

Kitty nodded and slipped back through the trees.

---

Jean shouldered her Power Soaker 2000 and pushed past some branches that were in her path. She was so proud. Marie had managed to stay dry for the game so far and Jean had landed the first water balloon into Rogue's chest. Other's from her team, Alison, Jubilee and Piotr finished the job and soaked the young woman from head to toe. Jean smiled and mentally recapped the last two blissful weeks since Rogue had come to her in the night. No one in the Institute knew, except for Xavier and Hank, and Jean and Rogue decided to keep it that way for a little while longer.

*Snap* 

Jean turned to face the sound, thinking it was one of her fellow teammates, but was instead greeted by a water balloon explosion on her stomach.

"Oof!" Jean scrabbled to get her water gun, but when the second balloon landed on her face, Jean instinctively shielded her head. She heard the students hooting and the whizzing of the water balloons flying at her but none connected with her skin.

"Ahem." Hank had dropped out of a tree and stood shaking his head. "Bad, little telepath."

Around Jean were ten or so balloons suspended by TK. Jean chuckled nervously.

"Whoops."

---

Hank carried Jean over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes back to the Mansion. The students on Hank's side whooped loudly as Hank plopped Jean down onto the grass in the back yard of the Institute.

Charles, who had just finished preparing the dinner for the students, smiled amusingly at her.

"You know the rules." He said as Hank and Piotr lifted a huge cooler filled with ice and water and poured it over Jean.

Jean shrieked as the cold shocked her body, but sat glumly like a drowned rat as the second and third cooler was poured over her.

"Throw her in the pool!" Marie yelled as she and the other students made their way into the back yard.

Jean shot Marie a dirty look and squawked unattractively as Piotr scooped Jean up and tossed her into the backyard pool.

The Professor shared a laugh as well as his original student sputtered water and sulked in the water.

"Alright children, I think Jean has been punished enough for today. Dinner's almost ready and the movie is set to go. A quick shower for everyone and we can eat." Charles waited till the majority of students were in the house before wheeling in..

Marie and Jean were the last in. Marie walked over to the pool and held out a hand to Jean.

I'm sure you thought that was funny. Jean said in Marie's mind.

Marie grinned.

"Of course." She pulled Jean out of the water, and couldn't help but let her gaze travel up and down Jean's body. She admired how Jean's clothing clung wet to her skin, and how Jean's skin glistened in the setting sun. Marie coughed and looked away.

"Come on, you better take a shower." Marie turned and started to walk towards the house but Jean pulled Marie back to kiss her. Marie smiled in between the kisses and let her hand travel up Jean's wet top. She looked back into the house and saw that none of the students noticed them. Jean must have set a mental image up and masked their true actions.

"We should go in." Marie said softly, but then grinned suddenly. "You smell like garden hose water."

---

(Six days later, Friday night. Three AM in the morning.)

Rogue silently waved goodnight to Alison as Alison quietly slipped into her dorm room. Alison, Rogue and Kitty had just returned from hitting some of the clubs that let them in even though they were underage. Everyone in the Mansion was fast asleep, but Hank had left the security system off so they could enter the Mansion without setting off the alarms. Rogue looked behind her one more time before she stopped at the door of her room. Jean had moved out of the room she had shared with Scott and into a room that she now shared with Marie that had one, queen-sized bed. To the others in the house, Jean and Rogue simply lived in separate rooms that had an adjoining door. 

Inside, Jean lay on the bed stretched out on her side fast asleep. Next to her head and on Rogue's pillow was Jean's laptop, and spread on the rest of the bed were numerous papers and books. Jean still wore her glasses and the bedside lamp was still on. The telepath had been invited to be a guest speaker at a local genetics conference held that weekend and had just finished finalizing her presentation that was to be held later on in the afternoon. Marie took off her heels, tiptoed around the bed, quietly piled all the papers and books together and put them on the desk. She slid the laptop off the bed and shut it down before sticking it on the desk as well. As Marie gently removed Jean's glasses, the telepath opened her eyes.

"Hey." The red head smiled sleepily. "Have a good time?" 

Marie nodded and sat on the side of the bed next to Jean.

"Yeah. A couple French guys hit on Kitty. It was funny to watch." 

Jean smiled and pulled Marie down to her and gave Marie a kiss. The red head raised an eyebrow and sniffed Marie's mouth.

Been drinking? Didn't you get carded? 

Marie smiled a little.

Alison and I won a couple rounds of pool and got some guys to buy us some drinks.

Jean grinned, but ended up yawning instead.

"Go to sleep." Marie patted Jean's hip and pulled the bed sheet over Jean's legs. "I'm going to go shower and brush my teeth, but you need to get back to sleep."

Jean nodded and closed her eyes.

"You'll be there right?"

"Yeah. I'll be the one in the corner smiling and nodding to everything because I don't know a thing about genetics." 

Jean smiled again, and mumbled something in reply, but before Marie could ask for clarification, Jean was fast asleep. Marie stood up, gathered her sleep wear and sneak silently out to the bathroom. Life couldn't be better for either of them.

---

(A week later.)

It was the last week of August and some of the students who left for the summer were beginning to return. Rogue sat on the bed she shared with Jean with various college and university entrance letters surrounding her. Jean sat with her and the two looked over the letters.

"Wow. These are good schools. UCLA, University of Washington... Simon Fraser University? Where's that?"

"Vancouver, Canada. I applied just to see if I would get in. On the road trip that I had planned with Cody, Vancouver was a stop over."

Jean made a thoughtful noise.

"Vancouver is a very nice city. It's been a while since I was there though. It's really... green."

Rogue smiled and flopped over on her side with her head propped up on her hand.

"I've still got time. I applied to start in January, so I don't have to decide now."Rogue's gaze fell onto the cordless phone that started to ring and Jean went to answered it.

"Hello?" Jean suddenly sat up straighter and the letter she held dropped onto her lap. "Scott? Oh, hi. No, I'm not busy. Just uh," She looked over at Rogue, "doing some work."

Marie sat up when Jean's eyes widened in shock.

"You're what?" Jean's tone was a little less than thrilled. ""No, no I am Scott. Happy. Wow, that's just sudden. What about the children? Storm's watching them? All of them?"

What? Rogue asked while she mouthed the word.

Scott. He's coming home in ten days.

"He's what?" Rogue said out loud before she could stop herself.

Jean continued to talk on the phone.

"What? Oh, yeah Marie's here. We were looking at some university entrance letters." Jean moved the phone away from her mouth and looked at Marie. "Scott says 'Hi,' and says they miss you there. There's a lot of kiwis where they are staying."

Marie gestured a little uncomfortably as she took the phone from Jean.

"Hi Mr. Summers. Yea, we're missing you here too. My powers? Oh they're good. I've got more control over them." She paused as she looked back at Jean. "Alright, see you in a couple days. Here's Jean." She handed the phone back and waited till Jean said goodbye before continuing to speak.

"Ten days."

Jean nodded and flopped onto her back. Marie lay down beside Jean and draped her arm over Jean's belly. Jean's relationship with Scott was over since the day Jean kissed Rogue the first time, but Jean didn't feel it was write to tell him that over the phone. For the past two weeks, Jean and Marie just pushed away the reality of Scott so they could enjoy their time together. Marie sighed. She liked Scott and could only hope that he wouldn't be too hurt when it came time for Jean to tell him. This, however, was something Rogue knew wouldn't be true.

Off with ye and review! 8D Don't you want to live at the x-mansion? Parks and beaches and water fights. Staying out late and what not. Man, I'd love to live there. 


	11. Consequences

Hey. A wee bit more swearing in this chapter than the other ones. Also, I don't own Jerry Springer.

---

(10 days later since the last chapter... It's almost September now.)

The car ride back to the Mansion was a strange and awkward one. Scott frowned as he tried to think of what could have happened that caused this eerie silence that permeated the car. He had asked Jean what was the matter, but her only reply was that everything would be explained when they got home. Scott looked in the rear view mirror and saw Marie sitting in the back seat, staring out the window.

"Is it Magneto? Did he do something?" Scott ventured to say.

Jean shook her head and continued staring ahead.

"No, not Magneto. Scott, it's nothing that bad. I'll explain when we get home." Jean stopped at a red light and looked at Marie in the mirror.

Maybe you should have waited till he was back in the house before you started to hint. Marie suggested in Jean's mind.

No. I've kept it from him long enough. I shouldn't fool him into thinking everything was like before.

The light turned green and Jean peeled out of the intersection at break neck speed. She was in a hurry to get home so she could end this charade. 

Thanks for coming with me Marie. Jean's eyes met Marie's in the mirror and she smiled briefly.

Marie smiled back. Jean had asked Marie to come with her to pick Scott up. His flight arrived at the ungodly hour of four in the morning, and Jean had not slept at all before that. She needed Rogue not only there to make sure Scott didn't try to start any unwelcome conversation, but also to make sure Jean didn't crash her car into something.

Scott, clueless of the mental conversation between the two women, tried to break the strange silence.

"So, you've got more control of your powers now? I mean, you're wearing shorts and tank tops now."

Marie gave a slightly forced smile.

"Jean discovered my powers had matured and were triggered by fear. So long I'm not scared by something, I can touch people."

"Interesting." Scott said. "So I guess taking you out to a horror movie in hopes you'd snuggle closer might be a bad idea huh?"

Marie smirked a bit.

"Dr. McCoy and I watched a lot of horror movies to see if Jean's theory was right. I've become a little desensitized to them now."

"Oh." Scott said. The silence returned and Scott blew out a quiet breath. The drive between Mansion and airport usually took about half an hour, but by the way Jean blatantly ignored all speed limits the trip was definitely bound to be shorter. Still, Scott was too giddy from the flight back to stay silent.

"You seem taller Rogue. What are you at now? Five-eight?"

"Hmm? Ya. I grew a couple of inches after I accidentally put Jean in coma." Marie went back to looking out the window.

"Oh." Scott sighed as he surrendered to the fact that the rest of the ride would most likely be a silent one.

---

Scott, Jean and Marie arrived back at the Mansion at six-thirty. Scott's luggage was moved into the room he thought he still shared with Jean and now Scott was in the their private washroom splashing water on his face. Jean faced Marie.

I need to tell him now.

Marie made a slightly sullen face.

Are you sure Jean? You haven't slept in almost twenty-four hours and he just flew back. Maybe you should wait a couple hours?

Jean shook her head.

I can't Marie. I can't lead him on like this.

Marie nodded.

Alright. I'll go back to our room. Call me if you need me. Marie kissed Jean deeply before she left, hoping to infuse some sort of courage through her love.

Jean kissed Marie back and sat on the bed waiting for Scott.

When Scott came out, he spoke before Jean could.

"Look, whatever the bad news is, it can wait." Scott sat beside Jean and continued speaking. "Jean, we've been together for a long time, and when I was in New Zealand without you I knew it wasn't right. I think we both knew we'd end up together, but I think because of that certainty we didn't do anything much about it. We just left it at the level it was at."

Jean froze. The ironic part of her mind started to laugh, but the rest of her just stared at Scott with growing terror.

"Scott..."

"Jean, I hated being without you and I don't want that to happen again."

"Oh god Scott." Jean stiffened and swallowed hard.

Oblivious to Jean's emotions, Scott moved to retrieve something from his pocket, and for the first time Jean forcefully used her telepathy on a friend to confirm what she feared.

"No, no Scott no." Jean sat away from Scott and shook her head. "Don't do this."

Scott's face fell and he nodded.

"Alright." He dropped his gaze and clasped his hands together. "Sorry, this was sudden. I shouldn't have thought you'd... I guess we need time to be with each other again."

"No... Scott, there's someone else." The words spilled out of Jean's mouth before she knew it and Jean mentally cursed for being so brusque in her delivery. 

Scott stared at her for a second. The shock was clearly evident through his glasses.

"L.. Logan." He said, venom dripped off his voice like purulence off a pustule. Scott stood up and walked away from Jean.

Jean blinked but shook her head in denial.

"No. Not Logan."

Scott continued to face away from Jean.

"Don't lie Jean. I see the way you are around each other."

"That's unfair Scott. Don't assume something like that and besides, he went to Japan shortly after you left." Jean stood and walked up behind her former love. The X-Men leader turned and faced Jean squarely in the eye. The adoration for her that was in his features was long gone, and in its place was something cold and on the verge of seething.

"Is this a joke? What are you playing at Jean?"

Jean reached to touch Scott, but he pulled away.

"This isn't a joke. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to do it over the phone."

Scott's voice rose.

"You were going to lie to me for another month? Jean, are you crazy? Why didn't you tell me? Who...?" Scott spun around and threw his hands up in frustration. "Why?!" He shouted.

Jean went forward to try to get Scott to sit, but he only slapped off her grasp.

"How long?" He asked icily.

"About a month and a half now. But I think it started before that."

"Dr. McCoy?" Cyclop's curled up his lip in disdain. "What? Because he's got a doctorate he's more interesting to you? I always knew you wanted someone more mentally on par with you. Of course, Logan threw me off for a loop."

Jean's eyes widened at the accusation. 

"Scott, you don't mean that. And it's not Hank."

"Then who? Who the hell is it Jean? Stop fucking around with me! You didn't tell me for more than two months because I was gone, but now I'm here, so stop beating around the fucking bush!" Scott was yelling now.

"Scott, sit. I need you to calm down first." 

"No! You try to be calm if you were in my place! Go in my fucking head and be me, and you try to be calm!" Scott grabbed Jean tightly by her shoulders, and in a tight, strained voice asked again. "Who is he?"

Jean swallowed hard, but held Scott's terrible gaze.

"Marie. It's Rogue." She said in a shaky voice.

Scott dropped his arms and stumbled away from Jean. Momentarily, the rage in his face subsided and in its place was pure and utter confusion.

"What? Marie? You're a... she's a... Marie?" 

"It's complicated." Was all Jean could say.

To Jean's astonishment, Scott suddenly started laughing.

"That's funny. That's really funny. This has got to be a joke." Scott turned and began opening the closet doors. "You got a hidden camera in here or something? What? The kids wanted to know what would get me pissed off?"

Jean frowned. She telekinetically closed the closet doors and used her power to turn Cyclops to face her.

"Scott. I'm not joking. I could never do that to you."

"Don't talk of things that you could never do to me, Jean. Who else knows? Do the students know? Am I the last fucking person to know that my relationship with you ended?"

Jean shook her head.

"No. Only Hank and Charles know. And Marie..." Jean flinched as she caught the mental surge of hate that emanated from Scott when she said Marie's name. "Scott, they didn't tell you because I told them not too. This is my life and they didn't have the right to meddle in it."

"Jean, it's my life too and you fucking kept me out of it!" Scott turned around and shouted out his frustration

"Marie? You're gay? For fuck's sake Jean, she's a student! You're a teacher!" He slammed his fist down on the table and Jean jumped in shock.

Jean? Are you okay? Came Marie's cautious mind voice. Marie didn't know what was happening, but she could feel what Jean felt.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Jean accidentally answered out loud and Scott whirled around to face her.

"Who are you talking too? Xavier? Xavier's wondering if you're the one who's okay?" He shouted in fury.

"No! Not Charles." Jean held up her hands to try to pacify Scott but her reply only enraged him further.

"Marie? You... linked?" Scott's face distorted from the betrayal he felt. "You're made a rapport with her?" His voice tapered off as the depth of Jean and Marie's relationship came to light.

"Scott," Jean floundered for something to say, but came up with nothing. "It's complicated."

"I'm sure it is! She's a fucking student! Is she even of consensual age? Oh my god Jean! This is sick! You're going to be on fucking, Jerry Springer!"

"It's not like that Scott! Scott, I love her! I love her more than anything in the world."

"Is this some sort of phase? You wanted to do something like this in university but never had the chance because we were together?" Scott, still clutching to denial, searched for some sort of sign from Jean.

Jean shook her head.

"No Scott. It isn't. I love her, and she loves me."

"You're gay? You're a fucking lesbian?" Scott's voice was laced with every negative emotion possible.

Jean wrinkled her brow in desperation.

"I love her. I love her." Jean repeated. 

Scott made a choking sound and dropped to his knees. When Jean came to help him, he angrily pushed her away.

"Don't touch me. Don't ever fucking touch me." His voice was low and dangerous. 

For two minutes the ex-couple just stayed where they were on the ground. Scott, on his knees, his arms tightly wrapped around his stomach as if he were trying to suppress the urge to vomit and Jean on her bottom, propping her weight up with her arms after Scott had knocked her back.

It was times like this that Scott hated his mutant power. It didn't bother him much that he could never look into someone's eyes without his visor or glasses; it was the urge to cry that made him resent his existence. Scott just wanted to cover his eyes with his hands in the effort to block out the horrible reality that was confronting him, but he couldn't without blowing his hands and a large portion of the room up. He let out a shuddering breath as he felt the last of his heart harden from the cruel actions of the woman he once loved and stood stiffly to walk out the door.

"Wait. We should talk more Scott. I don't want leave this like this." Jean scrambled up and moved to go after him, but Scott kept on walking away.

"Forget it Jean. There's nothing to talk about. You lied to me for two months."

Jean searched for something to say. For some reason, she couldn't accept Scott's reaction. She needed to talk to him. She needed to make him understand why she loved Marie, but he kept on walking.

"Where are you going?" She asked desperately.

Scott stopped for a second to reply. His voice dripped with resentment.

"To meet the students I'll be teaching this term. Unlike you Jean, I'll be teaching, not fucking, them."

And then he was gone.

Off with ye to review. Fuel my addiction and review... Flaeron the Review crack addict.


	12. What's that smell?

I'm back! Chapter 12! This is a breather chapter. You know, too much angst is bad for your heart. :D Anyway, just a note: Betsy is adopted. . I'm not about to go through the whole mumbo jumbo body swap that happened. And I answer how it is that Xavier can finance such a wonderful school!

I've got chapter 13 written too... that'll be up soon.

You know, I just realized I'm gauging the start of school using the school system where I live. Here, we start school the Monday after Labour Day. I remember some of my friends from the States saying they started school in August, but that's not happening in my fic. School starts in September. :):D

"Jean? Is everything all right?" Marie hastily turned off the lap top and stood up from the table as Jean wearily entered their room. Any sort of emotional spill over from Jean and Scott's talk had ended ten minutes ago and to prevent herself from fretting too much, Marie pointlessly surfed the Net.

Jean, dull eyed, gave Rogue a tired smile before slumping exhaustedly onto their bed.

"No. He's not okay." Jean let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Rogue joined Jean on the bed and ran her fingers through the telepath's shoulder length red hair.

"You were scared, and very surprised. I felt everything."

Jean opened one eye to look at Marie and smirked a little.

"He was going to ask to marry me, and then I told him about us. I'm sure he was more shocked than I was." 

Marie stopped touching Jean's hair and folded her hands in her lap. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she was some sort of scourge beset upon the paradise that was once Jean and Scott's relationship. Jean felt Marie's reaction through the rapport and took a firm hold of Marie's hand.

"It's not you. It's because of what I am, a telepath. I would never have been completely happy with Scott after you. Through all the years that we were together, he always kept a part of himself locked away. Maybe because he was insecure about something, but it didn't matter. Something was hidden and I knew. If I wasn't a telepath, it would have gone unnoticed. I can't go back to him and possibly be happy." Jean slackened her grip as she sighed. The day of no sleep compounded with her confrontation with Scott had drained her physically, emotionally and mentally but Jean nonetheless felt relieved.

During the days shortly after she awoke from coma, Jean spent a large amount of time wondering what life would be like if she continued on with Scott. However, no matter how many scenarios she thought of, or how optimistic she tried to be the end result was that Jean would eventually resent Scott for not wholeheartedly opening up to her. Then, there were the other days when Jean was so steeped in depression because she wished she could just forget Marie and return back to Scott without ever knowing the absolute sincerity of mind Marie had shown her. It was on one of these days that Xavier had surprisingly encouraged Jean to not give up on Marie.

"It will hurt Scott, yes. But there were no signs that your friendship was going to go beyond a platonic level. Like you and Marie, I didn't know until after the Cerebro training accident. But now, it is different and I am telling you as a fellow telepath that you cannot let this just go. Truly fulfilling relationships are not common for telepaths because we can feel the hidden parts of our partners despite what he or she says. Why do you think I resigned to remain alone all these years?" Xavier had said.

Jean tilted Marie's chin up with her free hand and gently squeezed Marie's hand with the other. 

"Don't worry about this. This is my mess to deal with." Jean reached up and pulled Rogue close to her. She was too tired to try to think more about things that would probably transpire between her and Scott. For now, she just slept with Rogue securely by her side.

---

(Dinner time on the same day. School is starting in three days.)

"Look whose back." Alison said a little bitterly over her dinner.

Piotr, Kitty and Marie looked out of the kitchen window and saw Betsy Braddock step out from her limo.

Alison snorted.

"Braddock. Old money. That and her brother's one of the most shrewd businessmen in the world. Braddock Corps owns half of the UK thanks to Brian Braddock. That's just what we need, more gigantic corporate conglomerates." 

Piotr continued looking out the window.

"You shouldn't be so harsh. The Braddock family has done a lot. Not only did they adopt Elizabeth when her real family disowned her, but the Braddock family is the largest supporter of our school. I think without the Braddocks, you and I could not go to school here."

"Yes, but she's still very self centred." Marie still harbored the bitterness over Elizabeth from last semester.

Piotr shrugged his massive shoulders helplessly.

"She will have to learn to go beyond that." Piotr looked over at Kitty and smiled. "Katya was the last to dinner. You should get started if you want to go watch that movie."

Kitty crinkled her nose.

"What? Me late? It should be Marie doing dishes. She slept in and completely missed out on lunch! This is her lunch!" 

Marie scoffed jokingly as she piled her dishes next to the sink.

"House rules never said anything about skipping meals. You were the last here, and you're doing the dishes." Rogue winked at the disgruntled Kitty before bolting out. She passed by the Professor's office and noticed that the door was still closed. Through her mental rapport, Rogue knew that Jean was still in the meeting that the Professor had called earlier that evening. Apparently, Xavier had recruited some new teachers for the school. Scott was in the meeting too, but it seemed he was the 'cool under fire' leader X-Man again, and did not react in any way around Jean.

As Marie walked near the garage, she heard the growling rumble of a motorcycle. Rogue smiled and quickened her pace to the garage entrance. 

"Logan!" She still saw him as a bit of a protector.

He turned and hugged her as she ran up to him.

"Hey kid. Keeping busy?" He was still his gruff self and smelled more like cigar smoke than ever.

Marie smiled and shrugged.

"Of course." 

Logan tilted his head and thoughtfully regarded Rogue.

"You grew." He took the cigar out of his mouth and looked Rogue up and down. He then tilted his head and sniffed the air. "Jean around?"

Rogue let her gaze travel aimlessly as she shrugged again.

"She's in a meeting. Xavier found some more teachers."

Logan grunted and leaned closer to smell Rogue. Rogue realized who it was he smelled and grew nervous very quickly.

Marie? Everything okay? Jean's mind voice came.

Huh? Yes. Logan's back and he's sniffing me.

He's what?

Marie suppressed a smile as she heard the slight undertone of possessiveness in Jean's mind voice. Jean was clearly quite aware of Logan's advances on women.

It's okay. He smells you... Marie trailed off as her attention returned back to Logan.

"You know, maybe you should tone down your training on her. You're beginning to smell like her." Logan popped the cigar back into his mouth, took a sniff of the air and then looked down the hall.

"Logan, welcome home." Xavier said as he wheeled towards Marie and Logan. Jean and Hank trailed closely behind, and four new adults, who Marie guessed were the newly recruited teachers, followed them in turn. "Logan, Marie, this is Ms. Frost, Mr. Forge, Mr. Cassidy and Ms. MacTaggert." After Logan and Rogue shook hands with the new teachers, Xavier continued speaking. "We took Marie in earlier this year to give her a home and help develop her powers. During the short time she's been her, Marie has all but mastered her gift." Marie blushed and Xavier smiled at her before continuing to talk, "And Mr. Logan here, well, he is our Phys. Ed teacher."

Logan raised an eyebrow and Xavier smiled a bit slyly.

"I'll explain later. Now," Xavier turned his wheel chair to continue on down the hall. "Shall we continue with our tour of the Mansion?"

"I'll catch up in a bit." Jean said and waited till the other adults had turned the hall before looking back at Logan and Rogue.

"Physical education? The Professor wants me to teach that?" Logan said a bit skeptically.

"That, or art." Jean looked down at the dusty duffel bag that Logan had used on his trip. "I wish you told us that you were coming back. We would have arranged for your room to be ready."

Logan stepped closer to Jean. Marie was oblivious to him now.

"Any room with you is ready enough for me." He said huskily.

Jean stood silently with a small smile set on her face. She should have seen that comment coming, but before she could think of something clever to say back Logan started to sniff her. He looked back up at her, perplexed, and then looked quickly back at Rogue.

"You taking on some of the kid's traits too? She smells like you, you smell like her."

Jean looked, uneasily, over at Marie, who could only stare helplessly back at the telepath.

Logan stepped back and tilted his head and a strange, small smile spread on his face. The scent trade couldn't have been caused by something as simple as sharing clothing. No, this was a scent trade that was similar to what he had smelled the first time that Logan had seen Jean. Except, then it was Scott's scent he smelled on Jean. He sniffed the air again before he formulated a proper conclusion. He smirked a little.

"Now that's interesting." He looked back at Marie and then to Jean. "Wanna tell me that what I think is happening between you two is just some strange fantasy I'm having?"

Jean crossed her arms and looked over at Marie again. Neither said anything.

"Cykes know?" Logan asked, amusement danced in his eyes.

Marie nodded slightly and Logan smirked.

"Wish I was there to see it." Logan wasn't really sure what to do at that point. One of the reasons why he loved chasing Jean was because it bothered Scott to no end. Logan had no love for that man and loved the idea of doing anything that would spite Scott. But Marie; this was different. Logan still craved for Jean, but now Marie was in the picture. He narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips in a line as he reassessed what he just discovered.

"How was your trip to Japan?" Marie blurted out as she tried to defuse the situation.

Logan smirked again.

"Not as interesting as the things that happened here." He picked up his duffel bag and shouldered it. "I think I'll be able to find my room."

I hoped you liked this chapter. Good ol' Logan. Follow your nose! Go Review! 60 reviews by Tuesday!! Sixty!


	13. Information leaks

Chapter 13!

No special notes. Just go review at the end. I can't believe i'm at chapter 13. This was suppose to end long ago! Darn you Valar and Chele for bringing up things that i had to write about'! :P heheh.. kidding! 

---

(2 weeks later. School's started!)

"Marie!" Came a loud whisper.

Marie looked up from her table in the city library and saw Bobby coming towards her.

"Bobby." She smiled and moved her books over to make room for him.

"Hey. You're not studying at Xavier's anymore?"

Marie shook her head.

"I finished the last of my high school credits in the summer as well as some extra courses. I'm doing some correspondence courses with the collage now, but I'm still living at the Mansion. What about you? Aren't you done at Xavier's now?"

Bobby tilted his head.

"Officially yes. My high school creds are finished, so I'm in some of the college credit classes that are being taught by Professor MacTaggert."

Rogue twitched her lip.

"The microbiology courses right? Yeah, not for me. I'm at the collage taking some intro Communication courses." 

Beside them, Jean came up.

"Hey." Jean smiled and quickly ran a hand through Marie's hair, lightly stroking the young woman's neck. The telepath wore black slacks and an open collared navy, blouse with a black jacket. She had just finished speaking at a seminar on genetics at New York University. "Hi Bobby. I saw Lorna at the checkout line. She'll be here in a couple minutes."

Bobby nodded and pretended not to notice the behavior exhibited by Jean, and the change of body language in Rogue. He had heard some whispering rumors since he returned from vacation about Jean and Marie being very close but had never seen anything thus far. At any rate, it wasn't his business.

"Alright." He pulled out his bus pass and looked over at the library entrance before looking back at Jean. "Why aren't you teaching at the Institute this semester?"

Jean put down her book bag and sat at the table.

"The school has Hank and Moira to make sure the students learn your sciences. The Professor and I felt it would be better if I focused more on my role as mutant spokeswoman and school physician."

Rogue smiled happily.

"And how did it go today at the university?"

Jean blew out a breath.

"Good. A lot of students came to the session and thankfully it didn't turn into a theology discussion, like last time, where we debating on the reality of evolution. Anyway, ready to go?" She asked of Rogue.

Marie nodded and as she packed her textbooks away, Lorna arrived.

"Sorry. There was a huge fine on my card from a book I forgot to return from the beginning of summer." She said a little acridly.

"Did you have enough to cover it?" Bobby stood and pulled out his wallet.

"Yeah. It's fine." Lorna sighed. "It's times like this I wish I had better control over my powers." Lorna flung her hand upward in a sweeping motion. "I could just magnetically wipe out any electronic record they had on me."

Jean cleared her throat in disapproval. Xavier made it a point to teach all his students that using his or her mutant power as an advantage over normal humans was unacceptable, and Jean, his original student, lived by this code.

Lorna snickered.

"Joking! You should have sensed it."

Jean smiled.

"I did. But still, I just had too." She stood up and picked up her bag. "Lets go. I can give you two a ride back to the Mansion."

---

(11pm that night in the school infirmary.)

Scott clumsily rummaged through the cabinets of the school's infirmary. His right hand and part of his forearm was bleeding freely and the makeshift band-aid he had made from his shirt was almost soaked through. Fifteen minutes ago he was in the garage tinkering with his collection of cars. These days, if Scott wasn't teaching the students or training by himself, he was hiding in the garage, pointlessly tuning up his cars. 

"Finally." Scott muttered to himself through clenched teeth as he found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, medical gauze and surgical tape. After using his mouth to open the lid of the bottle, Scott poured the disinfectant down his arm, and growled in pain as the liquid burned his wound clean.

"Scott?" Jean said as she entered the infirmary. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the trail of blood splatter on the floor of her infirmary. "What happened?" She asked as she rushed over to Scott to inspect his wound.

"Nothing." Scott said as he hastily piled on gauze along his arm and hopelessly tried to tape it on.

Jean removed the gauze despite Scott's effort to pull his arm away.

"Scott. These need stitches."

"No, it's fine. I just scratched myself when I was in the garage." 

"Sit Scott. God, you're lucky you didn't severe a vein." Jean pushed Scott over to the examination table and prepped some medical equipment. "Elevate your arm." She ordered as she injected a painkiller into his arm.

Scott did as he was told and Jean went to work on him. For the following ten minutes, as Jean cleaned his wound and administered painkillers, the two were silent. Jean could sense that his mind was in turmoil. He wanted to speak, but wasn't sure what would come out of his mouth.

"Say something. Whatever is on your mind." Jean said as she began to sew up Scott's arm.

Scott's jaw tightened and he was silent a moment more, but finally spoke.

"The Professor explained to me your relationship with Rogue." He said. "If I didn't leave for the summer, would you two have..." He dropped off.

Jean stopped sewing and looked Scott in the eye.

"I don't know. Maybe. Probably. Did Charles tell you that none of us knew this would happen until after the training accident? Well he was right. No one saw it coming, so I think that even if you were here it would have happened eventually."

Scott looked away.

"It should have been with me." He said softly. "I'm so angry. I'm angry that it's her you're with. I'm angry with myself for not being able to open up to you like Rogue. I'm angry with you because you lied to me. I'm angry with the Professor for not stepping in, but encouraging you. I'm angry." He stopped talking and looked away.

Jean continued fixing Scott up and thought of something to say.

"I'm sorry." She said finally. "I didn't mean for this to happen, but it did and I love her."

Scott clenched his fist as he tensed up.

"I know." He looked back down at his arm. Jean was working on stitching up his hand now. "I hate this. I can't do the 'lets be friends' thing. I can't. Maybe I wasn't close enough to you for your liking, but it was more than enough for me, and there can't be anything else." Scott hated how it sounded like an ultimatum, but it was what he felt. When Jean tried to say something along this line of conversation Scott changed the subject. "The students are talking. They're starting to notice."

Jean swallowed and paused for a second as she debated which line of discussion to follow. In the end, she opted for the latter.

"I know. I sense it. It was easier in the summer to be discrete when there were fewer students. But now they notice you and me and I think Elizabeth has been poking around with her powers. Maybe even Emma, she's a telepath too it seems. It shouldn't matter anyhow; Marie isn't really a student here anymore." Jean was almost finished with Scott's hand.

Behind Scott's ruby quartz glasses, he narrowed his eyes.

"Then why do you hide? People only hide their actions if they know something they are doing is wrong." Scott's resentment to Marie flared up again and he couldn't help but make the jab.

Jean tightened her jaw and finished tending to Scott. She let the comment pass over her without a reaction. Scott's view on the whole matter was obviously not a supportive one.

"There. Done. Come back in the morning and I'll look over it again." Jean said of the wound. She never looked up or said anything else to Scott as he left the infirmary. 


	14. TransCanada and Pineapples

It's been a long time waiting. This chapter may seem pointless, but it has a point.

Oh, and I don't know Rogue's birthday, I just made it up. And drinking age is 19 up in Canada. Go us! And the TransCanada is damn fun. :hic:  

I've also made the Braddock family psychotically rich! Bill Gates can't hold a candle up to them! :P Dr. Adler is from the cartoon, but he's not evil-ish in my story. He's just there. J

Thanks Chele for beta reading this… twice. :P

---

(Two weeks later, at noon.)

                "She's still sleeping?"

                Hank looked behind him after closing Marie's door. Jean had her luggage training behind her and an envelope clasp in one hand.

                "Marie woke up to go to the bathroom just now, but she is back in bed. I just dropped off some food for her. She's all right though. She has a high tolerance."

                Jean laughed. The day before was Marie's nineteenth birthday; Hank, plus a handful of the summer semester students, had traveled up to Ontario to celebrate. The telepath had been to yet another conference and was on the flight back. Still, Jean had the pleasure of feeling everything her drunken girlfriend did.

                "I'll keep an eye on her now."

                Hank nodded and opened the door again. He crinkled his nose and looked apologetically at Jean.

                "She threw up last night."

                Jean pressed a hand to her stomach.

                "I know."

                "It's been cleaned though."

                Jean walked in and saw Marie curled up and completely beneath the blanket. The telepath smiled. 

Marie's so cute when she sleeps curled up in a fetal position.

Hank moved Jean's luggage in and bade her a silent goodbye before closing the door after him. Jean kicked off her shoes and took off her jacket. The flight back from Muir Island had been too long. Jean crawled onto the bed and wrapped her left arm around the curled form. She was rewarded with a muffled grunt before a disheveled Marie poked her head out to squint at Jean. 

                Jean smiled and kissed Marie's nose.

                "Happy birthday. I wish I was there in person with you. It felt like you had fun."

                Marie smiled and lifted the blanket so Jean could get under.

                "Felt everything huh?" She asked as Jean snuggled closer.

                "Yes. I was sober and drunk at the same time. I went through a couple of the airline's barf bags and completely missed out on the meals that were served, but it was by far the most interesting thing I have experienced." The conference that Jean attended had ended the day before, and Jean had left directly from the conference to the airport in order to catch the earliest flight back to New York. "How much did you drink?"

                "I don't know. Some Canadians found out it was my nineteenth birthday and made me do TransCanada with them."

                Jean ran her fingertips down Marie's spine.

                "What? TransCanada? That's the highway."

                Marie shook her head before burying it into Jean's neck.

                It's a line of ten shots. One for every province. After you do one shot, you have to yell 'eh' before going on, or else you have to start from the beginning. Thank goodness I made it through the first time.

                Jean made a shocked sound.

                "Ten?" She didn't think she had ever done ten shots in a row.

                And then Piotr and Alison kept buying me more shots.

                "Oh my God."

                Well, the Canadian dollar makes it more economical. Then, I got into a drinking game with Piotr near the end.

                "Marie!" Jean pulled back and looked at Marie. "He's 6'8 and probably four times your weight! Plus, he's Russian!" Jean could help but snicker at the image of Marie trying to out drink the colossal Russian mutant.

                Marie whimpered.

                I know! I know!

                Jean nuzzled the top of Marie's head and patted her back.

                I think you need to absorb Logan's healing factor again. I'm sure your kidneys are about to give into alcohol poisoning. Jean looked at the bedside table and saw the untouched plate of fruit that Hank had brought in. "Marie, look at me." Marie lifted her head, and Jean made a clucking noise. "You're dehydrated. Come on, eat some fruit. It'll make you feel better and get rid of that hideous breath you have." Jean said teasingly as she eased Marie up to sit with Marie leaning on her front. With her TK, Jean put the plate of fruit on Marie's lap and then turned on the TV.

                Marie regarded the food a bit uneasily at first, but then popped a chunk of pineapple into her mouth. The juice and the sugars in the fruit hit her system, and she groaned as it began replenishing her body.

                How did the conference go? Marie was too busy cramming food into her mouth to speak.

                "Hey, slow down there. You don't want to choke." Jean pushed Marie's hands down before picking up the fruit and feeding it to Marie. "Very informative. It wasn't very big though since mutant researchers are rather rare throughout the world. We were given a nice tour of the facilities on Muir Island, and it was beautiful to see all the equipment. It was also refreshing to go to a conference where others understood what mutation was and wanted to discuss it I'm usually lecturing on what mutation is at conferences, but not this one. There was one research scientist, Dr. Adler that I talked with for a while. He's studying the triggering affect of mutation and is applying for funding to determine why there is such a wide selection of mutation."

                He wants to know why some of us can read minds while others can turn into organic steel? Marie ate the last piece of pineapple from Jean's fingers and then moved the plate away.

                "Yes. The environment influences evolution. Animals from the same family develop differently to adapt to the surroundings. It's probably the same with mutants, but to a much more detailed manner. Anyhow, the research is being done on Muir Island." Jean licked the juice off her fingers before securely wrapping her arms around Marie's waist. "The Braddock family funds everything on the island, and even built a university there. It's small and it's only been around for about twelve years or so, but it's a place similar to the Mansion. You can train your powers and gain a post-secondary education at the same time. Maybe you should look into going there."

                Marie shook her head. "Muir Island is far away. I think I'll stay close to here," she ran her fingers along Jean's arm, "and you."

                The two women turned their attention to the TV for a moment before Jean remembered her envelope. She sat up with Rogue still leaning on her and gave Marie the coloured envelope.

                "For you." She planted a kiss on Marie's left ear. Marie opened it, and a plane ticket fell out. Jean spoke again. "I thought you wouldn't go to Vancouver for school, but you should definitely visit. The ticket is good for any week long trip from now till January, so you can go after your exams."

                Marie held the ticket in her hand for a second more before quickly twisting in Jean's arms and kissing the telepath long and passionately. Through the rapport, Jean felt the rush of love for her from Marie.

                Thank you. Marie said with her mind while she continued the kiss.

                You're welcome. 

                Marie broke off the kiss. Jean was a bit breathless.

                "Where's your ticket? I can't go alone."

                Jean smiled. She knew Marie would want her to go with her, but it felt so good to hear it come from Marie's mouth.

                "When you want to go, tell me, and I'll go get a ticket."

Short and sweet eh? Like all the others, please review. Till next week!


	15. Frustrations

A/N: I've never really read much about Emma Frost's character. I'm basing her from the 90's X-Men cartoon and from what I interpret from her bio at www.mutanthigh.com. I'm just making her... frosty. Haha. Emma Frost frosty. 

A THOUSAND thanks to Chele for beta-ing this chapter and the next chapter for me. It is only because of her that you guys won't be croaking over with the atrocious grammar mistakes I have. I have this thing with commas... it's quite disturbing. 

Do me a fav and read/review Chele's 'Rebel Girl'. It's a Jean/Marie slash and I love it. Last, I have AOL IM now! J flaerond is my SN (haha, how predictable)

---

(A few weeks later. Early October and 10:30am on a Friday morning)

"Hey, where are you going? The route back to the Mansion is on this bus." Alison held open the bus doors and tilted her head towards the bus she held stopped. Marie and Alison had recently taken up to bussing to early morning squash games at the community centre.

"I'm going down to City Hall. Jean's doing that Senate speech for Mystique, and Hank gave me his pass to get in."

Alison glanced down at her watch and frowned.

"That's in five hours. What are you going to do for that long? Come back to the Mansion and get Logan to give you a ride on his bike."

Marie shrugged a little uncomfortably. 

"It's better if I just go now."

Behind Alison, the bus driver cleared his throat and revved the engine. Alison apologized and hopped off. She wasn't in that big of a hurry to get back anyway.

"Avoiding Cyclops again?" Alison asked as the bus pulled away. Alison and a handful of others knew about Jean and Marie. It had taken a lot of gentle prodding and time to drag out a confirmation from either women, and it was done so only under the promise of secrecy. Alison was the first to suspect a relationship and was also one of the few that knew of the terrible tension between Jean, Marie and Scott. 

"It's just better if I keep away, Allie. Jean's trying to deal with him, but it's not good for the others to know of this internal conflict between the X-Men."

Alison frowned. She knew that Jean and Rogue went to great lengths to accommodate Scott. Marie spent the majority of her days away from the Mansion to avoid the risk of running across Scott and upsetting him, and Jean did her best to continue a friendly relationship with Scott.

"While I respect Mr. Summers as an X-Man and teacher, I think it's wrong that you and Jean are doing this. He's got to get over it, you know?"

Marie sighed.

"Well, his reaction is not very serious or anything. He's not acting out publicly."

Alison deepened her frown.

"But he's making your lives rather miserable."

Marie shifted her gaze to the new bus that pulled up.

"It'll blow over soon enough. I just think it's better that I don't aggravate the situation. It's fine. Jean and I are okay with it." She said, half-lying.

Alison snorted and shook her head.

"The Mansion's your home, too, you know. If the Professor wasn't away at Muir Island, he would agree with me" When Marie looked doubtfully at Alison, the blond mutant women sighed. "Chances are you might not even see him. He's probably off doing some X-Man thing."

"I suppose." Marie said hesitantly. She did want to go back to the Mansion anyhow. The past weeks of her camping out in the library or university had become mind numbing and Marie really wanted to lie down on her bed and recoup after her game of squash

Alison flashed a smile.

"Good, Mansion it is. Sitting around those books all the time has got to be bad for your health anyway." 

----

(30 minutes later. Alison and Marie are back)

"Jean?" Marie dropped her duffel bag on the floor as she reached for a bottle of water in the fridge. "I thought you would be down at City Hall by now." 

Jean was in the kitchen making a sandwich. She smiled at Marie as she looked up from glopping honey mustard on her sandwich. The telepath had expected Marie to go straight to City Hall, but was nonetheless pleased that Marie came home.

"I'm going right after I finish making my lunch. Had fun playing squash?" Jean finished making her sandwich, and with her TK, she lifted it and placed it into a tubberware container.

"Mmhmm." Marie answered as she continued drinking her water.

"Did Alison kick your ass again?" Jean said teasingly.

"Hey!" Marie glared at Jean and tossed her bottle lid at Jean. "She only kicked my ass the last time because you kept messing with the ball using your TK! Where was that 'use your powers responsibly' lesson you and the Professor keep grilling us with?" 

Jean laughed quietly as she caught the bottle lid with her TK and placed it in the recycle bin.

"It was too tempting." Jean picked up her lunch and moved towards the kitchen exit. Marie picked up her bag and followed Jean. "The look on your face that day when the squash ball took a ninety degree turn to avoid your racket was priceless." Jean slowed her pace, and when Marie caught up beside her, the red head wrapped her arm around Marie's shoulder and planted a kiss on the other woman's cheek. "Besides, I was just training my TK."

Marie smiled and extended her arm around Jean's waist. In hindsight, the little prank that Jean had pulled was indeed hilarious. The two mutants turned the corner and continued onward to the garage.

"So I'll see you there today? Smiling and nodding to everything because you don't understand a thing about genetics like always?" Jean asked.

Marie chuckled.

"You'd be amazed at how much I've learned from following you to all those science geek fests." 

The telepath lightly shoved Marie for her last comment but then laughed. Jean knew that Marie never enjoyed the sciences in school, and had often teased Jean for her 'geeky' days in high school. The two were still laughing at each other as they entered the garage, but their mirth ended abruptly as they walked in on Scott.

"Scott." Jean said, a little stunned. Usually she kept a mental look out for him. This time, however, she had been too distracted.

Scott stood looking at them with a heavy box held tightly in his arms. He didn't say anything to acknowledge their presence.

Marie shot Jean a quick glance.

I... better go. Marie said to Jean, mentally.

As the younger woman turned to leave the garage, the box slipped out of Cyclops' hands and went crashing onto his foot. He muttered a curse and tried to lift the box off his foot, but Jean was there first.

"Here, let me help." She telekinetically lifted the box. "Where do you want it?"

"It's fine. I don't need your help." Scott grumbled and pressed down on the box to force it out of Jean's mental grip.

Jean pressed her lips together into a firm line and frowned.

"You're going to hurt yourself. Let me help you." She lifted the box again, but was rewarded with an annoyed glare through Scott's glasses.

"You would know a lot about hurting me, wouldn't you."

Jean's shoulder's slouched, and she shook her head.

"Don't do this again. Don't be like this." Jean watched sadly as Scott moved on to lift another box. She had tried to talk things out with Scott for weeks, but time after time her efforts were rebuffed 

"Jean, just leave it. We have to be civil in front of the students, but on our own time I'd rather not be near you."

"Scott..." Jean tried to reason with him, but whatever she was going to say was cut off by Marie. Neither Jean nor Scott had realized the young adult still stood at the doorway.

"How can you be like that to her?" She said, her voice tight from the effort to keep it from rising "We do everything possible to accommodate you. We never try to be around you together; I'm off at the city library most of the day and our room is in the farthest part of the Mansion. Jean bends over backwards to try to help you, but you just keep making it hard."

"Marie..." Jean said softly. Jean knew how Marie hated the way Scott took to stepping on her these days.

"I thought you were leaving." Scott said to Marie coldly.

Marie swallowed hard.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't swoop in, like Logan, and try and take her away from you. It happened, and it's not like you didn't have your chance either. You trained together. You grew up together for God's sake. It's not my fault that you couldn't find it in yourself to trust her with your everything. Jean's happy now. I would never do anything to jeopardize that. I wish you could just live with that, but you can't. Everywhere you go, and every chance you get, you will tear open the wound and make it worse."

For a couple seconds Marie and Scott just glared at each other. The atmosphere was thick with animosity.

"Why are you still here anyway?" Scott said suddenly with much vile. Marie blinked at him and looked disconcertingly at Jean.

Jean, stepped in at this point.

"Scott. No." But that didn't hold him.

"You're done with your schooling. You've mastered your powers. You're certainly not going to be an X-Man. Shouldn't you be on your way?"

"Scott!" Jean exclaimed. She couldn't believe what Scott was saying.

Scott didn't so much spare a glance at the two women when he left. _Let them think I'm being childish_. He thought. These days, Scott hated being the leader of the X-Men. It meant he had to lead by example and bottle up his true feelings for the good of team.

Jean gaped slightly at Scott as he left. She never knew he could show this much anger when provoked. _Maybe this is what he kept hidden in his mind away from me _ Jean thought sadly. She quickly turned her attention back to Rogue.

"He didn't mean that." She quickly said.

Marie sighed and shrugged sadly.

"Yeah right." Marie let out a loud sigh, before meeting Jean's gaze. "We can deal with that later. You probably should head to City Hall now. I'll see you there in a couple of hours, I guess"

Jean nodded slightly and went to embrace Marie. Marie tilted her head slightly upwards and kissed Jean. Through the rapport, Jean felt the frustration that Marie had against this whole situation. The thrill Marie felt in this relationship with Jean was muted rudely by Scott's dark presence and Marie hated that. Jean broke the kiss and buried her face into Marie's neck. It would work out in the end, but how close that end was to coming, Jean didn't know.

Review please! :D


	16. Unauthorized tests

Here's chapter 16. Basket full of thanks to Chele. She beta-ed this baby. I hope you like it. Oh, by the by, if you like Scott... DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. You've been warned. (Jeez, how would you react if someone of the same sex stole away your gf/bf? :P)

Furthermore, I am leaving to Calgary and Edmonton Monday, June 30th. This may be my last chapter I post for a long time. I apologize profusely for this. Hopefully I can write another chapter, but we'll see. Anyhow, write your own J/M fic darnit! When I get back, I better see 50!!!!!!! Hehe. 

---

Scott sat on the back porch steps, staring into the Mansion garden. It was the same place he sat months before while he waited for Jean to finish her training with Rogue. Scott swallowed hard as he felt a surge of negative emotion rise. _How can Marie possibly expect me to just 'live with it?' _He thought disdainfully. Jean was Scott's first and only love. They had met almost fifteen years ago, and had been in a romantic relationship for more than half that time. She was the first of Xavier's students. He was the first of the X-Men. How could Marie trivialize the agony he felt from the ending of his relationship? _What gives her the gall to tell me to 'live with it?'_ Scott gritted his teeth as his eyes came to rest on the grassy patch where Jean and Rogue usually sat. How he wanted to rip off his glasses and lay waste to that area. His hand crept up to his glasses, but before he could do anything the back porch door opened. His hand dropped, and he looked up at Emma Frost, who now stood beside him.

"You would really obliterate this nice garden because of your problem with that student?"

From behind his glasses, Scott's eyes narrowed. Emma must have been reading his mind for quite some time now.

Emma looked down at him and smirked. Her platinum blond hair hung straight down her back, and the mostly white outfit she wore seemed to amplify its shine.

"You don't like telepaths much these days, do you." It was a statement more than a question and another indication that she was freely roaming through his mind. Emma sat down beside Scott and looked out into the garden. "Xavier and Grey aren't completely right, in my opinion. It's interesting to know that someone has secrets. Knowing everything about someone takes the fun out of a relationship."

Scott still didn't answer. He didn't know much about Emma Frost except that she was a mutant teacher in Massachusetts. Why she left, only Xavier knew, but mutant teachers were hard to come by, so Xavier had invited her to work. 

Emma spoke again, but she continued staring out into the garden.

"My students were killed. Anti-mutant activists invaded my school, chained my students to their beds and burned the school down with them still alive inside. I wasn't there to protect them, nor did I develop their powers enough so they could adequately protect themselves." She went into Scott's mind and showed the X-Man leader the memory of the aftermath. After, Scott regarded Emma in a whole new light. This event explained a lot about her. Throughout the student body, Emma was known to be excessively critical about the level of control the students had over their powers. Cyclops also knew that the students under Frost's tutelage excelled in their mutant powers.

"I don't care about any interpersonal issues you have between others in this school. My only concern is the mutant powers of the students and whether or not the students have reached a level where they can protect themselves with it should they need to. If you turn Marie from this school before she is ready, you will risk her safety. At the same time, if she has reached maturity with her powers, then she is taking up time and space that could be better used to develop another mutant. I can test her to see if she should stay or not."

Scott spoke up for the first time.

"She can control her power and stop it from activating. That's good enough. She's not a danger to herself or others around her. No one would know she's a mutant."

"Let me test her. I'll know if she's ready." She met Scott's stare and waited for his response. "My test is safe. She won't be hurt." Emma smirked as she felt the tiniest twinge of disappointment in Scott.

Cyclops kept silent. It wasn't his place to determine if a student was ready to leave or not. That was strictly under the providence of Xavier. But Xavier was visiting Muir Island. For another twenty seconds Cyclops said nothing, but Emma understood. She nodded imperceptibly, stood and walked away.

---

(Later that evening, after the Senate speech. Back in the Mansion.)

"Logan, these are kids not army recruits." Jean tidied up her infirmary after the last of Logan's students left. As soon as she and Rogue had returned home from City Hall, Forge had told her of the boot camp Logan had set up on the outer fringes of the school grounds. Bruised and battered teens were already limping in from their P.E class and filing up outside of the school infirmary. Moira, a certified medical doctor like Jean, was already fixing up the first wave of students but was clearly overwhelmed. "Getting thirteen year old children to run through an obstacle course isn't exactly what the Professor had in mind for physical education."

Logan shrugged and scratched his stubby beard.

"They got their exercise."

Jean shot him a flat look.

"And all of them came back with cuts and bruises." She turned to wash her hands in the sink but continued speaking. "What about soccer? Or volleyball?" She suggested.

Logan grunted in reply and went to light up a cigar.

"Don't even try." Jean took the cigar from Logan's mouth with her TK and snapped the cancer causing stick in half before dropping them at Logan's feet. Jean and Logan had become good friends these days. Since he had learned of Jean's relationship with Rogue, Logan had unexpectedly backed off with his advances on Jean.

"Fine. I'll get rid of the obstacle course, but the sand pit crawl stays."

Jean made an exasperated sound.

"They don't have your healing power either. Why not hiking? That's pretty strenuous. Or..." Jean stopped mid sentence and frowned. "Marie?" She asked quietly as she looked up at the ceiling.

Logan stood up from the table edge he half sat on.

"Something wrong?"

Jean looked back at Logan; puzzlement swirled in her eyes.

"I can't... feel her." Jean looked away and narrowed her eyes as she tried to reach out to Rogue again.

Logan watched the red head grab the phone to dial in her room number. She glanced nervously up at Logan as she waited for Rogue to pick up and answer, but none did.

"Maybe she's sleeping?" Logan suggested.

Jean shook her head as she hastily took off her lab coat.

"No. I would feel her dreams." She rushed out, and Logan followed closely behind. The two mutants were silent as they made their way up to the living quarters. Jean walked briskly to her room. She continued concentrating on trying to sense Rogue, but as they rounded the corner that would lead to Jean and Marie's room, Logan suddenly grabbed Jean's arm and stopped her.

He sniffed the air.

"What?" She asked, still looking down the hall towards her room door.

Logan's claws shot out, and he growled.

"Blood. I smell blood." He started to run towards the room with Jean following a pace behind. As they neared the door, Jean stuck out a hand and telekinetically ripped her door from its hinges. Logan went in first, growling and snarling, but Jean pushed past him. She saw Emma standing over Marie, who was crouched on the ground whimpering and cradling her bloodied hands. The blond telepath had not turned to register Logan and Jean yet; she was too busy concentrating on Rogue. With an angry swipe of her hand, Jean telekinetically hurled Emma across the room and to the floor. Logan moved in and loomed over the floored telepath with his claws centimeters from her face

"What's wrong with the kid?" Logan asked as he continued to glower at Emma.

"I don't know." Jean knelt down by Rogue and moved her love to sit up. "There's nothing in her mind. What did you do? Why can't I reach her?" She demanded of Emma before turning her attention back to Rogue. "Marie? Can you hear me?" Jean ran a hand through Marie's hair but snatched her hand back as she touched Rogue's hot skin. Rogue's power had activated, but before Jean could react in any other way Marie screamed and from both her hands shot out a bloody set of bone claws.

Jean backed away and gasped in horror as Marie held up her shaking hands. The claws retracted but then shot out a second later. Blood flowed freely from the young woman's hands, and her hiccuping cries were laced with pain.

"Holy shit." Logan looked back at Marie's hands. He then turned to Emma and hauled her up by her white turtleneck. "What the hell did you do?"

"I... I tested her," She stammered. "We wanted to know if her powers had matured to the point where she could leave the Mansion, but I discovered her true potential."

Logan looked back at Jean, but then dropped Emma. He bent over and groaned.

Jean watched wide eyed as Logan's claws started to twist. Her frighten gaze scanned the room. Everything metal was starting to deform.

"Magneto's power..." Whatever Jean was to say after was cut off. She grimaced and grabbed her forehead as she felt a telepathic assault begin. The room began to shake and Jean realized Marie was doing a total recall of past mutant powers she had absorbed.

"Marie! Stop!" She said between clenched teeth, yet Marie either ignored her or didn't register. "Emma! Do something!"

Emma took a deep breath and concentrated on Marie. Her eyes flashed pure white for a moment, and Marie collapsed backwards. The room stilled, and Logan sat up wheezing as the magnetic deformation on his skeleton stopped. 

"I put her into a coma for now." Emma said breathlessly.

Jean ignored her and hesitantly touched Rogue's skin. Marie's power was once again dormant, and Jean took one of the bloodied hands into her own. The wounds had stopped bleeding, thanks to, what Jean guessed was, Logan's healing ability."Logan, help me bring her back to the infirmary." Jean looked at Emma, her green eyes intense with anger. Jean didn't say anything, but Emma knew what a horrific mistake she had made by pushing Rogue to such limits.

Review please! 


	17. A woman to reckon with

A/N: The power rating for Jean is definitely from the movie. Even after her training with Rogue, I still think she's not all that powerful telepathically. Emma Frost's power level comes from the comic and I think she's a pretty powerful telepath. Anyway, read on.  
  
Kudos to Chele for beta-ing.  
  
---  
  
(4ish hours since the last chapter)  
  
Jean flicked on the x-ray display back light and stood back to look at the series of x-ray slides she had up. There was a set of four slides, and they were all of Marie's forearms. Jean stepped forward and pressed on the newest slide to get a clearer picture of the bone structure. She looked at the other three and exhaled in amazement. The four slides were taken every hour since Rogue had been brought into the infirmary. The first slide showed distinctive bone claws built into her bones, and the two that followed showed Rogue's bone structure fusing together and returning to normal. The newest slide showed no sign of the claws what so ever.  
  
The doctor turned to her computer and pulled up the brainwave scans she had done. Like the x-rays, there were a series of four scans. The first scan reflected that of a telepath or telekinetic's brain; the second and third showed a transition stage, and the latest was a brain scan that showed what Rogue's original brainwaves were suppose to look like.  
  
Amazing. Her mutation is only now beginning to show. Jean flicked off her computer and x-ray display before walking into the main medical bay.  
  
Marie sat with her legs dangling off the side of the examination table with her head bowed. She absently wrung her hands together and fingered her knuckles. As Jean walked up in front of her, Logan came in.  
  
"Dinner's being served upstairs, but I brought you guys some." He dropped a plate of greasy pizza and a six pack of beer onto Jean's sterilized surgical equipment.  
  
Jean pursed her lips in mild annoyance and looked a little reluctantly at the coagulated mess of cheese and baked vegetables that was corrupting the cleanliness of her tools.  
  
"Thanks... Logan." She managed to say.  
  
Logan shrugged and took a can of beer for himself prior to walking over to Rogue.  
  
"Feeling better?" He opened the can and went to drink from it but paused and offered it to Marie instead.  
  
Marie shook her head. Her eyes fell onto Logan's knuckles.  
  
"They really do hurt when they come out." She said of Logan's claws.  
  
Logan's expression went somber.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Jean took Rogue's hands in her own and squeezed them gently. Jean had to keep Marie telepathically sedated for the first two hours. The first time she awoke, Rogue's stolen mutant powers had wrought havoc with everything. Jean had to call Emma down and have her mentally sedate Marie again. Jean tightened her jaw. Any thought of Emma soured her mood. Jean had, in the interest of caring for Marie, managed to push away her ire against the other telepath for the past four hours. Still, Jean knew, deep down, that it probably wasn't just Emma behind what had happened to Rogue. A surge of disgust rose from her gut as Jean figured Cyclops probably had something to do with this. Jean grimaced and turned her head towards the door. A second later, Scott, followed by Emma, came in.  
  
Marie stiffened in hatred as she saw Emma. The 'test' Emma had put her through had been forced upon her. Emma had ripped through Marie's mind the instant she walked into her room. When Emma realized Rogue had an untapped potential, Emma forcefully manipulated Rogue's brainwaves to reveal Marie's new abilities.  
  
"Wolverine," Cyclops said, "could you excuse us for a moment?"  
  
Logan arched an eyebrow and looked dubiously at him. He wasn't about to leave his two favorite women. "No, I think I'll stay."  
  
Jean looked at him and gave a small smile.  
  
She said into Logan's mind.  
  
Logan looked a bit disappointed. He secretly wanted to see Jean put Scott back into his place. Still, he respected the red head's request. He helped Marie off the bed and herded her out of the infirmary. As Marie passed Emma, Marie gave the coldest glare she could and raised her hand as if she was going to touch Emma. The telepath neutrally regarded Marie, but flinched slightly away from Rogue's hand.  
  
When Wolverine and Rogue were out of sight, Jean spoke. She did her best to keep her voice calm and emotionless.  
  
"Explain yourself." She directed her demand onto Scott. "That was the most irresponsible behavior I have ever seen from you."  
  
Emma cleared her throat slightly and spoke.  
  
"He wanted me to test Marie to see if her powers were completely developed. I pushed her to her limits, out of my own interest."  
  
Jean ignored Emma. She knew that part of the story already.  
  
"I wanted to see if she was at the level where she could re-enter society." Scott said, his voice firm.  
  
Jean's jaw twitched from the fury she suppressed. Still, she managed to keep her tone from rising.  
  
"That is only for Charles to decide, and you know it."  
  
"He won't be back for another two weeks." Scott said.  
  
Jean ripped off the glasses she wore and stepped closer to Scott.  
  
"And you couldn't wait? You had her," Jean pointed at Emma, "conduct a test? A test we don't know anything about?"  
  
Scott looked down at his feet, briefly. He would lose this argument.  
  
"Charles wouldn't recruit a teacher who he didn't feel fit in with our methods. If he hired her, then any 'test' she does must conform with his." He said, defensively.  
  
Jean inhaled sharply. It took everything in her to keep herself from outright screaming at Scott.  
  
"Did you see the shape that Marie was in? I had to get Emma to force her into a near comatose state so her mutant powers wouldn't destroy everything."  
  
Emma spoke up again.  
  
"I did that under my own volition. Scott didn't ask me to do that."  
  
Jean turned her head sharply to face Emma.  
  
"I was not speaking to you." She said sternly.  
  
Emma opened her mouth again to defend herself and Scott, but Jean was faster. Jean lifted her hand towards Emma, and with her TK, Jean dragged a chair noisily from across the room and placed it behind Emma.  
  
"Be quiet and sit." Jean said through gritted teeth, and Emma sat heavily into the chair. It wasn't a telepathic command that Emma followed. The blond telepath was a far more powerful telepath than Jean was, and any mental coercion done by Jean would have failed. However, Emma had no resistance to the telekinetic might Jean wielded.  
  
"I can't believe you did that to Marie. Did you think that kicking Marie out of our school would have solved our problem? You've made it worse, Scott. Marie was right. Every chance you get, you make our problem worse."  
  
"I made a judgement call. If Marie didn't need anymore training, then she would be taking up valuable resources that we could be using to develop another mutant. Yes, my personal interest was a driving force behind my decision to allow Emma to go ahead with her test, but in the end Marie wasn't hurt by it." Scott stood up a bit straighter. "I hardly think you should be the one with an issue with this. Marie is staying in the Mansion after all."  
  
Jean backed away a little unsteadily, aghast by his reply was.  
  
"You need to separate your personal life from work, Scott. This is dangerous."  
  
Scott almost said she never separated her personal life from her work. If she had, she would have never fallen in love with Rogue, and he wouldn't be placed in this situation now.  
  
Though he never said it, Jean heard it in his mind and gave Scott a sickened look. She had been so patient with him, but this was too much. Without a second glance, Jean left the infirmary, and gave up the hope that she and Scott could ever be friends again.  
  
---  
  
(Upstairs at that moment)  
  
"So none of you are going to be around next year?" Rogue asked a little sadly.  
  
Piotr shrugged.  
  
"We will be done with our school and many of us have mastered our powers. Xavier had said many of us were ready to graduate, but we stayed just because we wanted to."  
  
Marie sulked a little.  
  
"Where are you guys going to go?" Around Marie sat Sam, Alison, Bobby, Piotr and Kitty. The other students were off in the dining room or TV room eating.  
  
"University. Maybe travel around a bit." Sam answered.  
  
"University with me. I'm trying to get into a school in England." Kitty said. "Which reminds me, I better go work on my paper. The entrance requirements are so high for international students."  
  
Alison looked up from the plate of leftovers she was playing with. Alison was most likely heading off to California to pursue her dream of being a singer.  
  
"Aren't you going to NYU? You'll still be close enough to the Mansion"  
  
Marie poked at the half-eaten slice of pizza that sat on her plate.  
  
"Yeah. Still, you guys won't be here."  
  
Piotr looked at Marie sympathetically.  
  
"We are here for a few more months, Marie. We shouldn't worry about the future."  
  
Jean walked into the kitchen and smiled tiredly at the students. These were the ones who knew of her and Rogue. Still, both limited their show of affection around them.  
  
"Hi Dr. Grey." Kitty greeted brightly. "There's some pizza left in a couple of the boxes over there." She pointed to a pile of pizza boxes on the counter.  
  
Jean widened her smile.  
  
"Thanks Kitty. I think I'll just settle for something to drink."  
  
Rogue asked.  
  
Jean sighed and pulled out a carton of milk. She opened it but choked at its offensive smell.  
  
"Oops. I forgot to take that out this morning." Sam said quickly and guiltily.  
  
Jean grimaced as she poured it down the sink.  
  
"It's fine. God, how long has that been in there for?"  
  
"Too long!" Came a shout from the porch of the house. It was Logan who answered. He was outside smoking his cigars, but his heightened senses caught whiff of the spoiled milk.  
  
"You would think with all the smoking he does, his sense of smell would dull a little." Kitty said thoughtfully.  
  
"Damn healing power." Alison muttered. She looked over at Jean. "Busy in the lab?" Alison asked as she pointed out that Jean still wore her lab coat.  
  
"Hmm?" Jean looked down at herself. She was indeed still wearing her lab coat. Mentally, Jean praised herself for changing lab coats earlier. Her first was spotted with Rogue's blood.  
  
"Yeah. I had some x-rays to look at." Jean quickly said.  
  
Jean looked at Rogue, who was discarding her uneaten pizza.  
  
Jean suppressed a yawn and nodded slightly to Rogue. When Logan and Jean had carried Marie to the infirmary, they had taken the short cuts built into the walls, and therefore, none of the students had seen them.  
  
I Jean washed the cup she had used and bade the students goodbye. Jean and Rogue lived in the most secluded part of the Mansion. It was an older wing and was mostly hidden away, but it helped to keep them away from Scott and prying eyes. When she finally arrived at her room, she sighed loudly as she looked at the damage that was done. The hinges were ripped right off the wood, blood stained the carpet, and the furnishings in the room were in complete disarray. She raised a hand and telekinetically began to lift the door that was half leaning on the wall but dropped her hand exhaustedly to her side. The door fell back down and Jean flinched as it took out a piece of the wall. She was too tired to try this now. Jean wearily hurdled over the door that lay in front of her and slumped tiredly onto the bed. 


	18. A holiday

Ya so, here's chapter 18. I couldn't write something I wanted to, so I gave up and wrote this. Hope it's not too bad. And I know I've said it a ga-billion times…. But the end is near… I hope you guys like this.

Thanks Chele for beta-ing of course.

(First week of October)

  
"Your suite is on the twenty forth floor to the left of the elevators Ms. Grey. You'll be over looking English Bay and sunset is at seven thirty five tonight." The suite clerk on duty, Karen, handed a set of key cards to the taller red haired woman across from her desk. "Shall I have someone bring up the rest of your bags?"  
  


Jean smiled at Karen, but shook her head. "Thank you, but we'll be fine. We packed light." Jean patted the two duffel bags she had draped over her shoulders.   
  


Karen beamed her practiced, yet genuine, smile. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay with us Ms. Grey. If you need anything please don't hesitate to ask." Jean thanked her once more before leaving for the elevator. Karen watched the quiet, younger woman with the distinctive white streak in her hair follow half a pace behind.  
  


The elevator ride up was a swift one, and their suite was conveniently located nearest to the elevator.

  
"Wow. How did you get a place here?" Marie said, dumbfounded, as she walked wide-eyed into the beautiful, fully furnished suite that would serve as their home for the next ten days. 

It was extremely spacious, with large windows offering a spectacular view of English Bay. Sound speakers were built into the walls, and from them came a soothing melodic piece. The piece held a hint of West Coast forest and ocean sounds and built a mood that reflected, successfully, the natural environment of Vancouver. The furnishings, done in various shades of forest green and ocean blues, only served to strengthen the temperate rainforest ambiance the music set up.  
  


Jean slipped out of her shoes and went into the single bedroom. Like the outer parts of the suite, the bedroom was extravagant. A freshly made queen sized bed stood in the middle of the room and opposite was a beautifully painted, rustic cloths drawer. From inside, she replied to Marie's question.

  
"It wasn't too hard. October isn't exactly peak season, so rooms are usually available."  
  


As Jean unpacked her clothing, she felt a sharp pang of guilt emanating from Marie. Marie had no idea how much this trip cost, but she knew it couldn't have been cheap. Two days ago, Jean and Rogue decided they had to get away from the tension in the Mansion. While any physical harm done to Rogue by Emma was no longer an issue, Marie couldn't be near Scott or Emma without being apprehensive. It was the same way with Jean. The telepath felt that if she didn't get away from the Mansion soon, even for a little while, she would lose control of herself. And losing was something she abhorred as a telepath and doctor. So, Jean bought a last minute ticket to Vancouver and booked a ten-night stay at one of Vancouver's four star hotels. Jean and Marie only told a few people they were actually leaving before they quietly slipped away early this morning. Anyone who had the slightest suspicion about a relationship between Jean and Marie would no doubt have their suspicion confirmed, but it mattered little to both women now.  
The telepath stowed her emptied duffel bags away in the walk-in closet and went back to the main room. Marie was standing next to the main window staring out onto English Bay. As Jean walked up behind her, Jean could see the uncomfortable expression Marie had reflected onto the window. Jean wrapped her arms around the younger woman's waist.  
  


"Forget about it. We're here to relax and enjoy life." Jean said softly, as she buried her cheek into Marie's soft hair.  
  


The trip was indeed expensive, and it didn't even include the money that would be spent now they were here. But Jean didn't care. All her life, she had never been a frivolous spender. She just never felt the need to have stuff, and she also worked very hard at the things in her life. She had made her way through university completely on scholarship and now had a career that paid fairly well. Her bank account had been growing steadily, and originally Jean had entertained the idea of taking Scott on a surprise trip somewhere. That idea, however, was as defunct as their relationship.  
  


"Yeah, but still..." Marie's sentence trailed off. Her biological family back in Mississippi did pretty well financially, but this trip was beyond anything she could have imagined.  
Jean gave Marie a gentle, affectionate squeeze before disengaging.

  
"Go and unpack. It's not even noon here. We can go do some early exploring after you're settled in."  
  


Marie took a second more to enjoy the breathtaking view before entering the bedroom. It was Jean's turn to look out onto the bay, and the view presented to her washed away the stress that dogged her only days before.  
  


_Yes, this is what we need_. Jean thought to herself as an easy smile spread across her lips. 

Her mind flittered back to that night with Marie, and Jean shivered as her body relived the exquisite experience. 

Marie teased from inside the other room. She emerged a second later, smiling broadly with a twinkle in her eyes.  
  


Jean laughed lightly as she turned to face Marie. "Nothing much." She lied.

  
"Liar." Marie said instantly. She would have said more, but her stomach let out a rude and sudden growl. Both women stared at Marie's belly, and Marie remembered that she was hungry.  
  


"You should have eaten the food they had on the airplane."  
  


Marie made a sour face. She hated airplane food and had watched it horror as Jean happily devoured both their meals.  
  


Jean shrugged as she brushed a stray strand of white hair from Marie's face. It was probably true. She did spend an impressive amount of time in the air flying to and from press conferences or other mutant related matters.

  
"Do you want to go down to the restaurant near the lobby?"  
  


Marie thought for a second. "No, that's too heavy. We could walk to the coffee shop we passed by. I think it's about three blocks up the street."  
  


Jean nodded and briefly looked back out the window. "Bring your umbrella though. It looks like it's going to rain." ---  
  
The next nine days went by far too quickly for Jean and Marie's liking. And true to the stories, it rained for the most part of Jean and Marie's stay. Still, the couple couldn't see enough of Vancouver. For the most part, they recaptured the carefree relationship they had in the summer and had even started up their training session at night. But like the summer, their euphoria could only be short lived.

  
It was the last night of Jean and Marie's get away, and they were training Rogue's new capabilities. Earlier that week, Jean predicted that Marie would be able to freely access and control the powers she had absorbed. Marie quickly set up the mental visualizations that she hoped to use to access the powers, but only tonight did Jean push her to make an attempt to access the abilities. 

In Rogue's mind, Jean saw the visualizations Marie used and she mentally smiled at the method Marie used to. Jean saw a set of five doors. Each door symbolized a mutant power she absorbed, and while Marie had only touched three other mutants, Marie separated Logan's claws and healing factor from each other. She had done the same with Jean's telepathy and telekinesis. Each door was designed differently and showed an artistic side of Marie that Jean didn't know existed. 

Magneto's door was made of plastic and was tightly locked by plastic pad locks. It was a power Marie apparently didn't want to access any time soon. This was the same with Logan's bone claws. A door cast in solid iron with metal chains wrapped around it represented the claws. For the healing factor, the door was a plain and made from oak. A light layer of frost framed the edges of the door. Jean figured the imagery had something to do with the environment in which Logan first rescued Marie. The final pair of doors was that of Jean's power. Both doors were a dark navy blue and enshrined in a wreath of light. Silver spiral designs ran up and down the length of the doors and neither door had a latch. The doors, had they been real, could be easily pushed open. Marie was 'standing' in front of one of these doors for the past little while, and Jean mentally encouraged Rogue to continue. Instead of continuing, Rogue opened her eyes to the real world. Jean opened her eyes as well. Both women were sitting cross-legged on their bed across from each other. 

"I'm sorry." Marie said sadly. 

Jean frowned. "We have to go back. But it won't be that bad. The professor will be back the day after we are. He'll deal with Emma and Scott."  
  


Marie stretched out lengthwise on the bed and rested her head on the pillow. Jean followed suit.  
  


"It's not just that. I'm sad because my life there is almost ending. Kitty, Alison, Bobby and the rest are all graduating and moving out. I don't want to have to stay there, but I have no where else to go."

Jean reached out with one hand and rested it on Rogue's rib cage. She felt the rise and fall of Marie's breathing.  
  


"You could live on campus."  
  


"I can't afford it." Marie glared a bit at Jean. She knew Jean was going to offer to pay for her fees. "No. I'll just deal with whatever I need to back at the Mansion. I could try moving home if I really had too. I don't know what my parents would do with me though."

  
Jean pressed her lips into a thin line before sighing, and Marie softened her gaze before speaking again. "Let's not have to talk about that until we get back. I'm sorry I brought it up. What time is our flight tomorrow?"  
  


"Five thirty in the evening. We have a lot of time before we leave."

Marie lifted her head and kissed Jean.

  
"Yeah, we've got lots of time." She repeated, staring deep into the telepath's emerald eyes.

Review please. No angry reviews about how I should post faster though…. :P


	19. Home coming

A/N: So it's been a while yes, but better late than never! Yes, it is possible to write 7 and a half page in five hours. Yes, I really want a head massage.  
  
(9:00 am) Marie tilted her head slightly to the right and exhaled softly from her mouth as she calmed her mind, and focused on the pinecone that rested in her palm. She was sitting in the back garden of the Mansion. She and Jean had flown back the night before, and while Marie should be mentally focused on finishing her final school paper that was due in four days, her mental focus was elsewhere.  
The pinecone in her hand slowly floated up, and with much mental strain Marie made it spin. Beads of sweat formed on her upper lip as she tried to telekinetically pluck the scales off the pinecone.  
"Don't concentrate too hard there; you might blow a blood vessel."  
The voice startled Marie, and broke her concentration. The pinecone thudded lightly to the ground. The young woman turned around quickly and as she stood, her library books, notes and first draft slipped from her lap to land as a messy heap at her feet.  
"And without me, who knows when that part of your mutation would have surfaced." Emma Frost crossed her arms and smirked coldly. She had been teaching in the Mansion for a couple months now, and the slow, passive methods Xavier and the other teachers employed baffled her. When she first came to the school, she expected a stronger focus on the development of the children's full mutant potential. Instead, she noticed a lot of dampening on mutant powers. It wasn't extreme, but Xavier and his faculty were more paranoid of what would happen if the children's powers accidentally flared up during training and everyday life than the potential problems of the future brought on by the incomplete discovery a mutant child's capabilities. Emma believed in pushing her students past their limits. That way, any accidents could happen in a sheltered location, rather than in the outside world.  
Marie glared coldly at the platinum blond telepath that was in front of her.  
"You know what you did to me goes against the rules of being a telepath."  
Frost smirked again.  
"Xavier's rules," Emma corrected sourly, but she continued on. Marie was 'raised' on Xavier's view, and as righteous as they were sometimes they needed to be bent. "Xavier's right in that we telepaths shouldn't go around frolicking in other people's mind for no reason, or hurting them but in my mind Rogue," Emma stepped closer to Marie. "That wasn't the case. You're healed. In fact you're better than you were before in terms of your mutant powers."  
Marie opened her mouth. How dare Emma claim that she didn't hurt her?  
"Hurting you, in terms of a telepath, would be mind wiping you, or mentally torturing you. I didn't do either. Logan's claws were a manifestation of your own powers, and you healed from the wounds in the end. And now you know the limits of your powers. You should be thanking me, Marie. Scott wanted you gone from the school." Emma's lip curled in mild amusement. Scott amused her. He was so focused on Logan that when Marie showed up to blindside him, the hurt was much worse than what it could have been. Emma, although a telepath, would have never guessed such an immature side existed in Scott, the leader of the X-Men. But then again, he was a male. Good on Jean to go get herself a girl. Emma thought amusingly to herself before continuing.  
"Now you can stay, and at least prepare for when you have to go."  
"I am not the one who should be leaving. You're the kind of mutants that the Professor teaches us not to be. Do you really think you're going to stick around once the Professor gets word of what you did to me?"  
Emma's expression hardened. Even though she felt that what she did was for the betterment of Marie, she knew the consequences of her actions could be harsh.  
"Xavier and I have different teaching styles, but in the end what I did for you was good for you. I hope you realize that one day because I've seen what happens to mutants who suddenly have another development of their powers because they were never pushed enough as adolescents." Emma turned and left then. As she left, she dove into Marie's mind and left Marie with her experiences of secondary mutations, and some of the tragedies that followed. ----  
(Noon)  
"Dr. MacTaggert should be better from her cold by next week so be prepared for her quiz. Make sure you pay attention to chapter four and eight when you study."  
Jean watched the class of students she subbed in for file out before she bowed her head and rubbed her brow. She didn't need to use her telepathy to know that half of the class spent more time wondering about her and Rogue than listening to her lesson. Jean reached down into the recycling bin, and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. She had discretely confiscated it earlier in class from one of the students as it was being passed around, but hadn't read it then. Jean sighed and opened up the note. Some of the printing she could recognize, but there were many new students this semester and Jean was not teaching.  
I wouldn't have guessed Doc Grey was gay. Wasn't very smart of her to be so blatant by going on that holiday all of a sudden. I wonder if she's going to get in shit. One neatly written line read.  
'Doc Grey was gay' ha, that kinda rhymes. Cyclops must be pissed. I can't tell though, I can never see his eyes. Another line read.  
I wouldn't have guessed Rogue was gay too. But whatever. It's not our business. Either way, Dr. Grey's a good person. It can't be bad. Replied a line, written completely in finely printed capitals. Jean smiled weakly. This was Bobby's writing.  
Maybe they're not gay, and they just had to go away for ten days to do X-Men stuff? Read one small line.  
Pfft. Don't be naïve. First of all, Marie isn't an X-Man, and second. THEY LIVE TOGETHER! Soooo scandalous! Professor X is coming back the day after tomorrow. Won't he be surprised. A messy line read.  
I think he already knows. I mean, he's the world's strongest telepath. Sure, he says it's wrong to go into people's head, but c'mon, he's the Headmaster of the school. He probably suspects something. Now that's it's 'out of the closet' she'll probably get fired or something. This is a school after all.  
Damn, girl on girl action gave this boring school some life. Hate to see it stop when it just started. Jean's lip tightened into a thin line. This line was burnt deftly into the paper, and it was obvious who wrote it.  
  
"Jean?"  
The telepath looked up as she crumpled the note up. Storm walked into her classroom; her face a mix of emotions as she closed the door behind her.  
"Hey Ororo." Jean replied quietly.  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Storm was upfront with Jean but not angry. She was more disappointed if anything that her good friend didn't mention this relationship.  
Jean glanced away. She knew she should have said something to Storm, and she could feel that the weather goddess was hurt that Hank, a relatively new teacher, knew more about the relationship than she did. Jean had contemplated this issue briefly before. She figured that it was because she knew Storm as long as she knew Scott, and Storm would have tried to talk Jean out of it. Storm might not have accepted this change, and Jean knew she would have to deal with Scott's reaction inevitably; Storm's reaction was a bit too much.  
Jean met Storm's eyes. "I'm so sorry. I was. and I still am uneasy about your reaction. I didn't want to think about it, and that was wrong."  
Storm let out a heavy sigh and sat across from Jean on the edge of one of the tables.  
"You should have seen me when I finally heard about it. I kept asking 'Really? No. That can't be. Really?' for almost ten minutes." Storm laughed dryly. "It was finally when Scott walked in and heard me and Logan talking that I finally believed it. Scott didn't say a thing, but the way his jaw clenched before he walked back out said everything." She paused. "Funny, you can't see his eyes, but you still know what he's feeling."  
Jean nodded slightly.  
"Yeah. He says a lot with his eyebrows." She said softly as she remembered past days.  
Storm's expression sobered before she continued on.  
"I don't know what to say, Jean. I know you're happy, but it feels like it's all so sudden. Is this the right thing?"  
Jean looked into Storm's worried eyes. Storm was concerned about Scott, the school and anyone else that could be affected by the relationship. She knew Jean well enough not to go off and make irresponsible choices, and Marie showed herself to be a wise person despite her age, so Storm didn't feel the need to question the legitimacy of the relationship. But still, there were larger issues that she needed to know Jean considered.  
"It is." Jean exhaled loudly. "It was stupid of us to just run off in front of everyone, but I couldn't make myself be discrete. We had to get away from everything even if it caused more people to know about us. You didn't see what Emma did, Ororo. She ripped through Marie's mind like paper," Jean's expression suddenly got darker. "And Scott was the reason behind it." The expression passed when Jean paused. "But I love her. I really do."  
Storm sighed and went closer to Jean so she could clasp the telepaths hand, and give them a gentle squeeze.  
"I know. As strange as it is to me because ever since we were teenagers, it was always 'Jean and Scott', I know. I don't know if I agree with your relationship like Hank and Logan do, but I don't question it. I just worry. I worry about you, Marie, Scott. everything." Her eye saddened. "I just wish you told me."  
Jean nodded slowly.  
"Me too."  
  
---  
(3:00pm)  
The medical lab was a sterile, metallic place and mostly quiet except for the soft, constant drone of computers. Unlike the rest of the Mansion, it was one of the few places in which most students preferred not to wander into. While certain supply cabinets and machines were locked off, the actual room was, unlike the Danger Room and Cerebro, open to student access. The reclusive nature of the lab, along with the state of the art computers and bright lighting, made it a great place to study.  
Jean sat at her laptop and surfed the web. Beside her, sat Marie in front of the lab computer, diligently plugging away on her assignment. The rhythmic tapping of Marie's fingers on the keyboard for the past hour and a half, interlaced with the occasional flipping of book pages was the only sounds that really broke the drone of the medical machines. Jean had finished restocking and organizing her medical supplies, and felt no hurry to leave the sanctity of her lab. Earlier, after concluding her talk with Storm, Jean's walk through the halls to her lab was filled with enough sideway glances to frustrate the telepath. While most of the students were indifferent to the revelation, or, somehow still remarkably unaware of it, Jean felt enough hidden apprehensive emotions to make her want to hole up in her lab for the rest of the day. When Jean came to her lab, Marie was already there, and had been there since ten o'clock in the morning working on her paper. She felt the same way as Jean did. Neither was ashamed of their decision, but it baffled them that some would see them, not as individuals, but as a societal label.  
Abruptly, Marie rolled her chair back from the desk, reached forward and down to do a mighty stretch. She groaned loudly as her joints and muscles popped and relaxed. She did not sit up when her stretch ended. Jean smiled and laughed lightly at Marie, who was still folded with her head between her knees.  
"Seven and a half down, four and a half pages to go." Marie, her voice muffled by her legs, said.  
"Good job, that's more than an hour a page. You need a break." Jean rolled her chair over to Marie's still folded over form, and slid a hand comforting up and down the other woman's back.  
Marie shook her head and wearily sat back up.  
"Two more pages more and then I'll take a break. I want to get this finished today."  
Jean frowned.  
"You haven't even eaten yet. You'll write better once you've eaten."  
"Soon, I'm just on a roll. Two more pages and then I'll grab something."  
The red head sighed. Inside her head the doctor part of Jean began lecturing about the importance of proper eating habits, and only by biting her bottom lip did Jean stop herself from physically saying it.  
I Marie said through the rapport with a wry smile on her face.  
Jean laughed and smiled before leaning in and kissing Marie on the mouth.  
She replied. Jean rolled her chair in behind Marie's and fiddled with the levers of Marie's chair so the other woman was reclined at a forty-five degree angle with her head resting comfortably on the headrest. Before Marie could protest or sit back up, Jean began working her fingers deftly and firmly along Marie's hairline, forehead and scalp.  
Rogue moaned as she felt the tension being rubbed away. For ten minutes, as Jean combed and moved her fingers in circles over Marie's scalp she lay completely motionless. Jean asked as she gently pinched the edges of the ears to activate the acupuncture points for the entire body.  
Marie's reply came in no form of coherent words or though. Instead a flow of almost unbearable, golden pleasure gushed through the rapport, causing Jean to intake a sharp breath as her fingers fumbled through the last set of shiatsu movements along Rogue's neck.  
Jean said a little amusingly through the rapport.  
It was a good minute from the end of the massage before Rogue opened her eyes.  
"I don't want to move." Rogue said, her voice already a bit raspy from being in such a relaxed state.  
Jean laughed again. It felt good to be able to laugh in the Mansion again. She wheeled her chair more to the right side of Rogue and brought her face over Rogue's. Her red, wavy hair tumbled over and curtained their faces as Jean and Marie tenderly kissed again. Jean's hand slid over the younger woman's waist and she tightened her arm protectively around it. Marie broke the kiss and just lay there, gazing into the rich green eyes of the woman that hovered not five inches from her face. Jean smiled and with her other hand she brushed stray brown locks from Marie's face.  
For what seemed like hours, Jean and Marie remained still. Nothing seemed capable of breaking the moment.  
RRrrrggg.  
Jean and Rogue frowned and blinked rapidly as their senses returned to reality.  
Rrrrggggg.  
"I think you should really eat." Jean said, her hand that rested on Marie's belly trembled with the growl.  
"After just one page and a half." Marie grinned and popped her chair back up. Jean could barely sigh exasperatedly before Marie was clicking away on the computer once again.  
  
---  
  
(The next, next day. 9:47 am.) Marie checked her watch as she darted out of one bus and across the street to the opposite bus stop.  
9:47.  
Marie had just missed the second of three buses she needed to take in order to get from the collage to the Mansion. Marie cursed loudly. The next bus would come in another forty-five minutes, and this meant she would miss the last bus she needed, causing her to have to wait in the rain for another twenty more minutes. Marie muttered and cursed herself for not bringing an umbrella, or for having the brains to wear a waterproof jacket. She was so happy to be able to hand in her paper early that Marie simply dashed out of the Mansion with only enough pocket change for bus fare. The rain was coming down hard now, and there was no shelter for her to huddle underneath.  
At least my paper's handed in and done with. Just the take home written exam to do and then I'll be done.  
Marie wiped her brow, and sat down on the curb. Her pants would be wet eventually, and she was warmer curled up than standing straight. She was wearing one of the Xavier Institute zip up hooded sweatshirts and was thankful that it was part wool. Even in the rain, she'd still retain some body heat. She pondered whether or not she should ask Jean for a drive back, but figured the telepath might be subbing another one of Moira's class.  
Rogue exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. Rogue accessed Jean's TK powers. Maybe she could create a telekinetic barrier between her and the rain, but it was a fruitless effort. Rogue had only recently been able to access the stored mutant powers in her mind. Using the various skills was something completely different, and creating a TK barrier was beyond the scope of Rogue's abilities. Marie rubbed her temples and gave up. As she went back to mentally berating herself for being too stubborn to listen to the weather forecasts, a navy blue Mazda zoomed past her.  
Rogue sputtered as road water drenched her already soaked body. She yelped and jumped up, gesturing angrily and shouting at the car that had stopped at the curve in the road twenty meters away. To her fear, the car reversed until it was next to her, and the window rolled down.  
It was Scott. He looked at her, a grim look on his face.  
"Get in." The car lock released. "Try not to get the seats wet." He said, as he waited for Rogue to get in.  
She stood there staring at him, and it was only when Scott revved the engine and threatened to drive away, did she open the door and enter.  
Scott grimaced at the palpable squishy, wet noise Marie made as she sat down. He checked the road and peeled around to do a u-turn.  
"Thanks." Marie said quietly.  
"Don't sit on the road next time. Someone could have hit you."  
The next five minutes wiled away in slow agonizing silence.  
"Say something." Marie said, looking at him.  
"You know why I was behind it. I went about it in the wrong way, yes, but I might have been right about your powers." Scott said flatly, as he remembered that fatal meeting between him and Emma in the back yard. "Although, I never knew Emma would have done it like that. I was run by emotions, and I'll face the consequences." Cyclops rounded a corner. They were about five minutes from the Mansion now.  
"Jean said you think it's some sort of phase with her, but it's not."  
"Phase or not, it's wrong, and it's sick. You are a student, and Jean is a teacher. She should know better. Regardless of the mistake I made, she knows better than to engage in a relationship with a student. You're eight years younger than her too. No matter how much Storm says you are 'wise for your age,' the unevenness in maturity puts you way out of her league. I have no idea what she was thinking by falling for you, but it will pass. When it does, she'll regret everything."  
"You talk like you're in her mind. Thing is, you never were. I'm in there right now, and she shares with me everything, even when she dreams." Marie shot back. "Don't tell me I'm out of my league. You could never bring yourself to being as open with your mind as she was trying to offer."  
Scott tightened the grip on the wheel and stepped on the gas pedal a little harder. Marie's word held a grain of truth, and that grated against his nerves.  
They stopped at the front gate of the Mansion with a screaming halt. Cyclops intended to wait for the gates to open, and then drive in, but Marie was already opening the door to leave. Before she closed the door, she bent down and looked into the car at Scott.  
"If you still care even a bit about Jean, look past your jealousy and realize this is for real." Rain was dripping down her face. "It'll never come to the point where she regrets anything about this. If you knew her enough, you would know Jean's not the kind of person to do things that would cause her to regret in the long run." She paused before closing the car door. "Thanks for the ride."  
His car idled for a second more. When he looked up, Jean was standing at the Mansion doors with towels in hand. He reversed his car at that point, not wanting to see Jean and Rogue together a moment longer, and besides, he was already late picking up the Professor. 


	20. Faculty Dispute

A/N: No I do not promote guns to children!!! Guns are bad! But anyway, another long chapter. Enjoy, and review please.

Flaer

----

It was good to be home again. Xavier looked fondly at his school that was just coming into view. His trip to Muir Island had been a good one. The facilities were amazing, and it disappointed him that it was so far away. It would have been nice to see his students graduate into the Muir Institute to continue their education, and still be involved directly within the mutant community.

            "This is only what the world sees Duncan. The rest of the school is three times larger than what is on the surface." Xavier turned to look into the back seat. Dr. Duncan Adler, the new head of the research at Muir Island, straightened out his glasses and tried to imagine what the actual size of the school was. He was an older man in his early fifties. His silver hair and neatly cropped beard framed his face and made him resemble Einstein. He had never meant to fly back to North America so soon this year after his conference in Vancouver, but when he found out that Charles Xavier was on Muir Island, the research scientist arranged to meet. He knew much about Xavier and the school through Jean, and was planning to visit some time in the next year, but hearing about the school through Xavier made Duncan visit sooner.

            "And you Mr. Summers? What do you teach?" Duncan asked of Scott, who served as driver for Xavier's car. 

            "Auto mechanics, math and physics." Scott responded as he pulled into the driveway of the Mansion. "You'll find all of our instructors serve many functions. Jean as doctor and spokesperson, Moira is a doctor also, and a certified post secondary instructor. Forge is the computer science-technology teacher as well as administrator for the computer systems that run the school." Scott continued saying.

            "Jean taught biology didn't she?"

            Xavier nodded and answered.

            "Yes, but this semester she hasn't been teaching. Instead, she's been traveling to conferences to give the mutants a voice in the higher levels of government. I'll be resuming that role soon enough, but I thought I would give Jean a try at public relations. She's done a fine job, so I might reconsider taking it on again."

            After the car had parked, Scott helped Xavier out and began unloading the luggage. The door from the house to the garage opened and Jean came through.

            "Good to have you home Professor. Did you have a good trip?" Jean asked.

            "Yes. And I've brought a guest who will be staying with us for a while. Dr. Duncan Adler. I believe you two have met." Xavier watched as Jean stepped forward and shook the other man's hand. That second, Emma stepped through and Xavier knew immediately something was horribly wrong. Xavier slightly frowned. He never made it a habit of delving into other minds, but he had watched Jean grow up and knew the woman's body language even if she tried her best to hide it. Xavier shifted his gaze to Emma. The tall, blond, blue-eyed telepath met his gaze and almost seemed to dare him to go into her mind. Xavier tapped his fingers on the mechanical remote control of his wheelchair. She was the newest of his teachers, and also one that troubled him the most. Yes, her students excelled in their mutant abilities, but Xavier felt there was something a little harsh about this woman. Storm came in and with just one look at the group of mutants before him, Xavier knew the root of the problem. His eyes met with Ororo, and she understood what Xavier needed.

            "Hello. My name is Ororo." She extended her hand out to Duncan, who shook it.

            "Nice to meet you." Duncan, oblivious to the tension that coursed through the air, turned to Jean. "So this is the school you told me about. I'm already impressed, and I've just seen your garage." 

            Jean smiled.

            "We'll give you the full tour soon enough, and you can see everything for yourself."

            "Well, Duncan's had quite a long flight. Ororo, could you show him to one of the rooms?" Xavier said, as Duncan picked up his luggage and prepared to follow.

            "Of course, Professor. Dr. Adler, if you'll follow me?" Storm said.

            Duncan nodded and politely excused himself.

            "I'm sorry for the rushed introductions, but it was very nice to meet you all." He gave a quick smile and nod at Emma's direction before following Storm.

            "Welcome home Professor. We've missed you." Jean said. 

            "Yes, well, it feels as if I should have come sooner." He said with a tinge of wonder in his tone. Xavier's expression turned serious. "Is there something we need to discuss?"

            "Yes, but after you've settled in." Emma said immediately. She wasn't going to hide behind Scott. She may have done it with Jean, but she would not do it with Xavier. Emma needed to prove to Xavier that she meant no harm and that her methods of mutant training were safe.

            Xavier looked between each three of the adults in front of him. Jean, though usually calm and collected, seemed to simmer with pent up emotions. Furthermore,  Jean and Scott were obviously on dangerous terms. 

            "Very well. Tomorrow morning, my office. All of you." Xavier left the garage and headed to his room. Scott, with his bags, followed, but Jean and Emma slipped away.

            That evening before dinner, Jean gave Duncan the tour and ended in the lab. Rogue was there surfing the net. 

            "Hank, Moira and I share this lab. Since both of them teach, they have their own offices on the main house floor, so the lab is primarily for my use." Jean finished explaining the lab, and turned to look over at Marie. "This is Marie. She's more or less graduated mainstream school, but she's here to continue the development of her mutant powers."          

            Marie stood and shook Duncan's hand.

            "Hi. Nice to meet you. Jean told me about your research project you were starting up."

            Duncan grinned.

            "I'll be starting pretty soon actually. It will be interesting, although the thought of teaching young mutants to develop their powers sounds like a much more rewarding endeavor."

            Jean smiled.

            "It is rewarding. It's a special moment when we realize that we have control of our lives." 

            Marie nodded in agreement.

            "Jean was the one who helped me."

            Marie and Duncan continued their pleasant small talk as they began walking up to the dining room. Duncan asked about her powers, and how she learned to control them. He asked about her studies, and her future.

            "I'm accepted into some of the local universities, but I think I need to spend a semester working. Schooling is rather expensive, and since I've more or less been disowned by my family, I'll have to find my own way." 

            As they rounded the corner Duncan stopped.

            "Why not study at the Muir Institute? It's a University Collage as well, so not really a university, but we'd have some of your courses and you can always take a class by correspondence from the University of Glasgow. I don't know the complete enrollment or class information, but fees are paid through a time system where your work for the Institute goes to pay for your education."

            Marie raised an eyebrow in interest. The offer was farfetched, but it was still nice to know something like this existed.

            "Interesting, but Muir Island is rather far away, and I've already been accepted to schools here." Marie said.

            Duncan nodded and continued moving to the dining room.

            "I think applications are due by December if you decide to change your mind." 

            The morning came quickly. Xavier sat at his window staring out into the slightly darkened sky. He wished he had not set a meeting for the morning, but it was too late to change things now. Emma was the first to enter and like always, she wore white. Scott came in shortly, followed by Jean and Rogue. 

            "Good morning, Rogue." Xavier said. He had not asked for her to be here, and looked at Jean expectantly.

            "It concerns her." Jean replied.

            Xavier nodded.

            "Well, does anyone want to begin by explaining the more than obvious breach in group dynamics?"

            Emma spoke first, again. She needed to show herself separate from Scott and Jean's feud, and the detail in which she explained her role shocked the other women in the room. No doubt, they expected Emma to lie and hide her actions, but Emma believed, and forever would, that her actions were for the betterment for Rogue's future. 

            Xavier listened in stunned silence at Emma's details. She had done everything that was wrong for a telepath. He knew a skilled telepath could manipulate, disrupt or destroy brainwaves, but never had he known that telepaths could force a mutant into developing his or her skills. That was dangerous gamble with minds as it forced a development in which the physical body may not have been ready for.

            Emma's voice hardened. She knew what Xavier thought.

            "Rogue, and the rest of the students are not as frail as you imagine. If only you would push them more they would truly become masters of their powers."

            "Going into a person's mind and playing with brain waves is not considered a push." Jean said coldly. "We have no idea if you caused some hidden, long term damage in Marie. You just don't give human growth hormones to a child to speed up a process that should come naturally."

            "They will adapt. You'll do more damage if you keep on babying your students! How can they survive in a world that will be dangerous for them if all they know how to do is hide?" Emma finally raised her voice in frustration. She couldn't believe this. Couldn't they see? Couldn't they see that what she did for Rogue, and the rest of the students she taught were good for them?

            Xavier's head tilted as he scanned Emma's mind. Yes, he despised doing it without the consent of the other person, but this was too large.

            "How many other of my students did you do this to?" Xavier asked in growing fear.

            Emma suddenly felt very vulnerable beneath the gaze of this mighty telepath. She should have guarded her thoughts closer, but it was too late now. She could feel Xavier in her mind, looming over her and bearing down on the truth.

            "All of the ones I taught. Each one has hit their potential, and will know how to use their full powers by the end of the year. I didn't push them like Rogue though. I took my time with them." She said proudly.

            Xavier exhaled sharply. Emma taught more than two-dozen of the students in the school. 

            "What have you done?" He asked in strained dismay. "Are you so blind to think that we only teach them how to hide their powers?" Xavier moved closer to Emma. "Once, an old friend of mine called mutants gods amongst insects because of our powers. In all reality, we are. We do not teach them their powers quickly because the feelings of superiority override those of responsibility. You think I teach them only how to hide their powers so they can protect themselves from humans, but in reality I am protecting the humans from the mutants." 

            Scott and Jean looked at each other. Never had either of them seen their mentor like so.

            Xavier continued on.

            "If a child finds a gun without knowing what it is they have found, then that child may toy with the weapon without knowing how to properly use it. They will not know the consequences of pulling the trigger. Teach a child slowly what a gun is, and the consequences of using one and you instill a sense of responsibility within them. Every one of my students more or less has loaded guns build within themselves. They need to learn, slowly, the consequences of using their powers, especially against normal human beings." 

            There was silence in the room for a good thirty seconds as Xavier's words sank in. Xavier shook his head. He should have questioned Emma more before inviting her to teach at his school, but it was too late for that. He looked back at Emma.

            "I want a list of all your students and their progress reports on my desk within the hour."

            Emma did not move. Xavier was an idealist to think that humans were some kind of endangered species that needed protecting. Emma had taught her fair share of students before Xavier hired her, and none of them went on to be some sort of mutant mastermind. She had given back to them a confidence that the world had robbed them of through years of ridicule and fear. She taught them that their difference was a source of strength and not shame.

            "Just because I don't take years to bring my students to their full potential doesn't mean I don't teach them responsibility. How can you teach them to be responsible when they haven't even fully developed? What happens if some of your students are caught off guard and their abilities flare up and out of control? They won't know how to handle that."

            "That is why the school is a safe environment. They don't have to fear for something unexpected." Jean interrupted. 

            "You can't protect them every second of the day, Jean." Emma shot back. "If you could, I would have never been able to go into Marie's mind."

            "We wouldn't have to if mutants like you had a sense of responsibility." Jean crossed her arms. "You talk about teaching your students responsibility. What sort of example were you setting by tearing through Marie's mind like that?" Jean's voice rose with ever word.

"I did not hurt her." Emma said through gritted teeth. 

Jean swore, suddenly and forcefully. The room shook with a small telekinetic tremor.

"You just proved my point. How can you be responsible for your powers if your TK reacts to anger?" Emma said smugly after she steadied herself.

Jean flinched, and said nothing more. She glared coldly at the other telepath, but was only infuriated more when Emma met her stare unflinchingly.

Emma smirked and narrowed her eyes. Xavier saw Emma's body language relax a little, and knew what this rogue telepath was doing. 

"Emma!" He shouted, but it was too late. Jean brought one hand to her temple, and her eyes widened.

"Get out!" The doctor gasped and bent slightly over. Marie went to grab Jean by the waist to hold Jean up.

"My God, the potential you have." Emma said to herself in a soft bewildered voice before she spoke again to the others. "Use your telepathy! Push me out. I'm barely using any effort to go in your mind, you should be better than this Jean." 

Scott reacted at that point. He grabbed Emma's arm.

"Emma, stop it!" Scott said, but it did little to break Emma's mental invasion.

"You should be so much stronger Jean! You were Xavier's first student, shouldn't that mean you have the best control over your powers? But how can you if you're too afraid to even tap into them? You're twenty-eight Jean, and you don't even have a fraction of our powers developed to their full potential! Xavier has you 'trained' too well!"

Jean's other hand went to the other temple and she stood hunched over with her eyes tightly shut. Her legs started to buckle, and Marie was supporting more of her weight. Scott continued to try to stop Emma, but the blond telepath continued to bait and goad Jean to use her abilities to push Emma out. 

"Stop it!" Marie finally screamed, and then everything happened at once.

Marie's jaw clenched together, and the mental doors that she had set up blew open. It was the telepathic bolt that Marie unintentionally sent crashing into Emma's mind that broke Emma's hold on Jean. The blond telepath's head snapped back and she crumpled to the floor. Marie dropped Jean just as bone claws burst from her hands. Blood flowed freely from her hands as it flowed from Emma's nose.

"Again, my point proven. Such sordid control on your powers." Emma said in disgust as she stood back up, wiping the blood away with her sleeve. The red seemed to glow on her pale skin and white sweater. "Look Jean. Look at how powerful your telepathy actually is."

Jean wasn't listening to her. From a sitting position, she took hold of Marie's shaking hands to inspect the wounds, but Marie already had it under control. With a mental effort that showed visibly on her face in the form of a gasping grimace, the claws retracted and the claw openings healed closed.

"And thanks to me, you're able to do that." Emma said smugly. Scott moved to see if she was all right, but she pushed his hand aside. 

Jean stood up and released Marie's hands. Her eyes burned with fury as she crossed the space between her and Emma in three long strides. Without so much as blinking, Jean pulled back her right fist and punched Emma square in the jaw, sending Emma reeling backwards and into Scott's outstretched arms. Jean stepped forward and grabbed Emma by the front of her sweater, hauling her back up to Jean.

"Enough!" Xavier finally shouted.

Jean abruptly let go of Emma's sweater and backed off. She had never seen Xavier raise his voice so.

Xavier breathed in deeply, calming his nerves.

"Effective immediately, you are forbidden to teach the students. I will tolerate your presence in the Mansion should you choose to stay simply because your sudden departure would cause the student body to question the stability of the faculty. Make no mistake, you are not to interact with students at all, and by the start of next semester you will have over stayed your welcome."

Emma rubbed her jaw and wiped away the blood that had started to flow from the cut on her lip. With a snort of revulsion, she adjusted her bloodied sweater and stormed out of the office. She would be gone from the Mansion by the end of the day.

Xavier looked up at Scott. Emotions were still running high, but Xavier needed to deal with this now.

"Jean, Marie? Go get cleaned up." 

The two women took their cue to leave.

"Explain yourself Scott." Xavier said.

Scott looked down and away from Xavier's gaze.

"I'm sorry Professor. I was run by my own motives and I tried to hide them under school policy." Scott said truthfully.

"Scott, I did not expect this of you." Xavier said sadly. "You know protocol better than any other teacher here."

Scott looked up, and Xavier could see the hurt behind his ruby glasses.

"Why didn't you stop it? You must have known about them."

Xavier sighed, and nodded. He explained to Scott then the difficulties for a telepath to attain satisfying relationships. He explained the problems that would have occurred in Scott and Jean's relationship had it continued. And he explained his part in encouraging Jean and Rogue's relationship.

Scott hung his head as he digested all that he heard.

"I can't accept that. This has to be a phase." Scott finally said, albeit half-heartedly. Xavier sighed. He couldn't say more to convince Scott. Scott would eventually learn to accept it himself. Xavier didn't object when Scott left his office. He sat there for the rest of the morning to watch the younger students play in the cold October air. The part of him that cherished his school above all else felt these recent events had usurped the serenity of his school. That part of him wondered when and if the school would return to normal. That part of him was angry that his teachers, his former students, were not able to manage things in a better way. But more importantly, a deeper part looked at Jean with sad envy, as she was able to find a relationship that he never could.


	21. New opportunities

Wow! Yes, i still intend to finish this ol' gal up. Seeing how it's been a year since i started ES, i figure it's a fitting time to get me arse in gear and post! So here you are, chapter 21. Yeah, it's not really beta-ed but... Non-betaed ES is better than No ES?? Right?

Also, a mink blanket IS NOT made of fur. It's made up of this really.. nice.. soft.. material. -- -- means telepathic conversation

Flaer...__

_thump… thump… thump…_

The rhythmic heartbeat infiltrated Jean's slumber. She fought if off, but it persisted, and while she wanted to move away from the sound, her body was too comfortable to comply. Though she was awake now, she kept her eyes closed, and her body still for a little while longer. Jean guessed it was about ten minutes later when she finally opened her eyes, and shifted slightly to adjust her weight. She was on her side, curled slightly against Rogue. Jean had her arm draped protectively across Rogue's naked torso, and Jean's head rested over Rogue's breast.

Thump… Thump…Thump… 

Jean listened to Rogue's heartbeat a moment longer, hoping the slow evenness would lull her back to sleep. More time passed, and Jean finally surrendered to remaining awake. With care, she detached herself from the still sleeping form of Rogue and slipped off the bed. It was nearing four in the morning now, and the late December moon bathed the room in pale, cold moonlight. Jean shivered violently as her naked body protested against leaving the warmth of the bed. Quickly, Jean grabbed the bathrobe that was strewn on the floor and wrapped herself in the fluffy material. Stepping closer to the window, Jean looked out into the clear night. Snow smothered the landscape in a thick, white, crystalline blanket and the moon's light reflected off the surface, making the night brighter than usual. Jean shivered again, and silently regretted not taking the time to turn on the heat before she and Rogue had gone to bed. With one last look at the ice engulfed trees outside, Jean sat down at the desk, adjusted the table lamp and then turned it on. She glanced back at the bed to see if she had woken Rogue, but the younger woman had already buried herself completely into the soft folds of the mink blanket. On the desk were various letters addressed to Rogue. One of the newer ones were addressed to Rogue, and Jean read it over again.

_Dear Miss D'Ancanto,_

_In addition to welcoming your admission to the State University of New York, it is my pleasure to award you The Reed Richard's Scholarship for the Gifted…_

Jean skimmed over the letter. It continued on about the details of the scholarship, and how SUNY was striving to be the leader in providing post secondary education to all groups, homo sapien superior included. Jean knew of Reed Richards, and the Richards family. They were a family devoted to science, and although they were not mutants, Jean had heard they supported their fair share of mutant causes. Not surprisingly, Rogue was thrilled as the scholarship was inclusive of all university costs. Jean sighed, and quietly opened the bottom drawer of the desk. She pulled out another envelope. This one was addressed to her, and had only arrived earlier that day.

_Dear Ms. Grey,_

_Through the recommendations of Dr. Duncan Adler, the administration of Muir Island Institute would like to offer you an indefinite position as head of the medical facility located here. In addition, a fully funded research position working in conjunction with Dr. Adler is available as well…_

Rogue did not know about this letter just yet, and Jean wondered what her reaction would be. An interesting stroke of luck had given Jean what she wanted, but unfortately, it was not in the right school. The near by universities had been fairly open to offering Jean some sort of position, but it was nothing as prestigious as what was in front of her now. The Muir Island offer started in the next semester, and a big part of Jean didn't want to wait to see if any other offers would come her way.

Silently, she put away the letter, turned off the table lamp and made her way back to the bed. Despite her best efforts to not wake Rogue, the younger woman poked her head out from the blankets.

--Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you.-- Jean said through the link as she tightened the blanket around herself and Rogue.

--That's okay.-- Rogue yawned and looked over at the clock. --It's early, and, -- Rogue shivered, --it's cold. Is the heater not working?--

Jean shook her head and gathered Rogue closer to her body. She was still in the terry cloth robe, and Rogue had snuggled into the material that was around Jean's side. Jean smiled down at Rogue and then looked back at the desk. The bottom drawer opened under Jean's telekinetic pull, and the letter that was hidden inside floated towards her outstretched hand.

--Marie? There's something I need to show you.-- Jean handed the letter to Rogue and then she turned on the bedside lamp. Through the rapport, Jean felt Rogue's happiness for her, but then felt the reality of what the letter meant.

--Wow. It's everything you want in a job.-- Rogue looked up at Jean.

--Yes.-- Jean leaned forward and kissed Rogue's forehead, and played absently with a lock of her lover's long brown hair.

Rogue cleared her throat and sat up.

"You should go. This is a very good opportunity." Rogue said out loud.

"And you?" Jean asked in return. She wanted to read Rogue's mind for the answer, but opted to wait for Rogue to say it herself. She had faith in her relationship with Rogue, but still felt apprehensive with the answer she would hear. Until this letter, she and Rogue had already solidified their plans for moving out and living together elsewhere in the city. Everything was perfect, but this offer was too much to just ignore.

Rogue smiled and laughed lightly at her.

"What do you think?" She said, and then Rogue quickly rolled on top of Jean. "You think I'd let you go all the way over there without me?"

"And your scholarship?"

Rogue pursed her lips.

"Maybe I can get a job doing something at Muir Island?" Her eyes became unfocused for a moment as she tried to formulate what her future plans would be. When Rogue looked back at Jean, her eyes were set with a fiery determination that Jean knew wouldn't bend to any will. "I won't be apart from you, and I want you to take this job. I've seen what schools here are offering you, and you're so much better than those ones. This," Rogue pulled the letter from between their sandwiched bodies, "is what you're made for."

Jean smiled and held Rogue tightly against her.

"I love you, Marie." Jean whispered before Rogue kissed her.

--I love you too.-- Rogue replied through her mind as the letter dropped to the floor, and the bedside lamp was turned off through Jean's telekinetic thoughts.


	22. Merry Christmas

A/N: I'm still here! And I'm still alive and writing! (sorta) Also, I'm Canadian, which means I use the Celsius temperature measurements, just like the rest of the world, minus the most powerful country of all. And a toque is a hat! :p And yes, this is a Christmas chapter in August. FYI, tis hasn't been bete-ed.

(6 am, Christmas Morning)

Xavier wasn't sure if he was happy, concerned or frightened watching Jean train in the Danger Room. A side glance at the control panel showed that she was training at a level seven program; a program four levels higher than what she was use to. Xavier watched as Jean used her telekinesis to deflect objects coming her way and redirect them towards the attacker. Jean was getting better, and using her telekinesis, for once, on the offensive rather than a defensive reaction like she usually did.

A yellow disc flew through the air towards her, hitting her hard directly in the middle of her back. She fell forward on her hands and knees. Her eyes narrowed as she looked up at the disc that continued on its way. One gloved hand rose, and when her outstretched fingers became a tight fist the disc crumpled in midair and fell to the ground. To her left, a large metal ram shot out from the wall and barreled towards her. Jean rolled over on her left hip and raised her arms to shield herself from the impact. The ram never touched her. A telekinetic shield came between her and the ram, but she was still pushed across the floor and against the far wall as the ram's hydraulics tried to pin its target against the wall. Jean cried out softly from the mental exertion of preventing the ram from pinning her physically. She could hear the machinery that moved the ram strain and creak against her shield, but she wouldn't give in. Her breathing came through gritted teeth for minute or so as she managed to push the ram backwards. But in the end, her mind tired, and she was barely able to twist her body away before the ram crashed into the wall she had been previously pinned to.

Xavier watched this and frowned. His hand went to the Danger Room computer consol to shut the program down, but Jean knew he was there.

No. I'm almost done. 

Xavier's frown deepened, but he heeded Jean's request.

Jean stood up a little shakily, shifting away from the ram that had begun to retract to prepare for another attack. From the upper parts of the Danger Room, eight slots in the wall opened and one red discs shot out from each. Xavier's eyes widened. Without safeties, the red discs acted as concussion explosives, and were only used in Wolverine or Cyclops' training programs. Xavier clicked on the consol, and to his dismay, the safeties were off. He began typing in the override codes, but his fingers slowed as his eyes followed Jean's actions.

Jean braced herself against the wall. Her eyes locked on the discs that flew her way. In her mind, she could see herself reaching out with ethereal hands and pushing the discs to a new direction. She almost failed, but at the last moment, the eight discs spun around and headed towards the wall where the hydraulic ram was preparing to shoot out again. As Jean crumpled to the floor, the discs impacted, and destroyed the ram before it had a chance to strike again.

"End program." Jean said breathlessly, as she pulled herself up a couple seconds later.

Xavier came through the entrance of the Danger Room, his face a mix of emotions.

"I've been training a bit more." Jean said as she led her mentor back out of the Danger Room.

"I can see." Xavier knew that Emma's last conversation with Jean probably spurred Jean to train harder, but it still bothered him that something negative motivated her to do so. When Jean first developed her powers, she always held back. She never felt quite as good as Storm or Scott, and resided to take a supporting role within the team as a doctor. Xavier sighed imperceptibly, and let this issue fade as he brought up a more pressing topic.

"I know Dr. Adler has arranged for you to have a head position in the Muir Island Institute."

Jean nodded and sat down on the bench in the change room.

"News travels fast. I only got the letter three days ago."

"And?" Xavier positioned his wheel chair in front of Jean.

"I'm taking it. None of the schools here are offering anything nearly as good." She paused for a second. "And I need to get away. I know it looks like I'm running from problems, especially the ones with Scott, but look at everything that has changed."

"Nothing has changed." Xavier replied so quickly that even he didn't believe it.

Jean started to pull off the boots of her X-Man uniform.

"I feel less, and less at home." Jean looked Xavier in the eyes, and the truth shone bright in her green eyes. Aside from the rift between her and Cyclops, Xavier's Institute almost didn't have a role for her anymore. She hadn't taught a class in almost two semesters, and with the Moira and Hank, there wasn't a need for her to teach a class in the next semester either. With Moira around, the load on her as a medical doctor lessened dramatically. Originally, this fitted her well because of her role as a public spokesperson for mutants, but Xavier was starting to become active again in that realm.

"I haven't really left the school ever since I came here as a girl, Charles. Even when I went to medical school, I always found myself back here on my free time. But back then, this was my home; I was supposed to be part of the X-Men." Jean twisted around and looked at the three other black leather uniforms that hung on the glass lockers. "I won't lie and say that Emma's actions and my broken relationship with Scott aren't reasons why I want to go, but it's more than that now."

Xavier frowned. Jean was one of his first students, and the one that he wanted to eventually take over the school.

"You know that I would rather have you stay with us. The school would not be the same place without you."

Jean nodded.

"I know. A part of me doesn't want to leave. But I don't think I could be happy here. I need time," Jean paused, searching for the right word, "away to let myself catch up with my own life."

"You know you can always come back to us at any time."

Jean smiled at her mentor.

"Thank you."

Xavier gave his favorite student a slightly sad smile, and cleared the small knot that suddenly developed in his throat.

"Your powers are developing more and more."

Jean shrugged.

"I'm learning to refine it. I don't know how much more I will develop it though. I guess we will see."

Inside Xavier's heart and mind, a hint of concern formed, but it was nothing he felt should be dealt with now. Jean had opened her locker and was pulling out her normal cloths.

"I'll be here for another two weeks at the minimum. Marie and I need to make sure everything is taken care of before we leave." Jean continued as she gathered her things before heading towards the shower. "I'll see you at the Christmas dinner tonight."

---

(8 am, Christmas morning)

"You okay, kid?" Logan shouted over the howling wind that he was driving Scott's motorbike through. Wrapped tightly around his back was Marie, miserable from the –30 degrees weather she was being driven through. The only thing saving her from a freezing death was Jean's X-Man uniform and trench coat she had borrowed earlier this morning.

"Thanks for driving me!" She yelled into Logan's back. With her head encased in a helmet, and with the wind blowing, Rogue wasn't sure if Logan heard her.

"No problem!" He yelled back. Apparently, his heightened senses had picked up what she said.

Rogue closed her eyes and pressed herself more securely into Logan's back. She had spent most of the night frantically writing up her application for entrance the Muir Island. The deadline had passed, but Rogue wanted to try anyway. When she woke up that morning, Jean was already gone, and the only person awake who would drive Rogue to the mail courier's was Logan.

"Time to get off now. You better head inside and warm up." Logan had already lit up a cigar by the time Rogue managed to defrost herself from the seat of the bike.

"You'd better be cleaning her up." Scott was at the garage door. His face seemed to be in a perpetual scowl these days. "What the hell were you doing…" Scott's words stuck in his throat as Rogue finally pried the bike helmet off her head.

"Just droppin' off the kid's application. Be happy. She might be out of your hair in couple of weeks." Logan replied sourly as he started to scrap the ice from the bike's headlights.

Scott's head drooped a bit before he turned stiffly and stalked back into the house. "Prick." Logan said loud enough that Scott would have heard.

Marie batted at the snow that still clung to the uniform.

"I hope I get in. I can't wait till we're away from him."

Logan stopped his cleaning, and put out his cigar on a clump of ice that stuck arrogantly to the headlights. He looked at her.

"I'll miss you." He said before resuming his cleaning.

"I'll miss you too." Rogue felt her eyes water. If it weren't for Logan, so many months ago, her life would have been so very different from what it was now. "But you can visit. I think Jean would like that."

"There you two are." Storm said as she saw them through the garage door.

"Hey Stormy. I think you over did it on the 'white' Christmas last night." Logan had begun using his claws to carefully chip away the ice that still clung to the bike.

"Well I didn't think anyone would be taking a ride out in the snow now did I?" Storm said as she walked toward Rogue. "I'll take that for you." She said softly as Rogue shed the trench coat. "Go to the kitchen. Hank has some hot cocoa ready for you. Presents are going to be opened pretty soon." She turned to Logan. "That's the same for you, Logan. Just put the bike by the furnace over there and let the snow melt. Scott doesn't ride that thing anymore anyway."

Logan chuckled to himself and followed Rogue and Storm into the house.

"Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kwanzaa to all! Everyone has their secret Santa gift?" Hank announced as he perched agilely from the edge of the giant fireplace. Hank's Santa hat was on a bit lopsidedly, and his fake elf ears were a bit over the top, but he carried the festive season in all its full glory. In front of him were the thirteen students that were staying at the Mansion over the break. These were the ones without a family to return to, and this was the second of two holiday celebrations. Xavier had an official dinner a week earlier for all of the students, and any of their families that wanted to join.

"Well, have at them!" Hank somersaulted off the fireplace and landed deftly over the gift addressed to him. Like everyone else, Hank tore into his gift. Everyone, student and teacher, were part of the secret Santa gift giving. Everyone also hung stockings by the fireplace for Santa, and therefore, all received a gift from Xavier.

Rogue pulled out her gift and looked it over bewilderedly. A very, very skimpy green and yellow bikini dangled off the tips of her fingers. Her head turned to Jean, but the red headed woman's shrug proclaimed her innocence in the selection of gift. Jean smirked devilishly and winked at Rogue a second later.

-- More like a Christmas gift for me, than you wouldn't you say? --

Rogue blushed and quickly tried to stuff the gift away before anyone noticed her and Jean.

"Nice gift, no?" A voice purred behind her left ear. The breath held the slight hint of buttered rum.

"Remy?"

The Cajun winked at her and tipped his Santa hat towards her.

"Merry Christmas, cheri." He flicked his left wrist and the ace of spades appeared between his two fingers. With the card he motioned to the gift. "For the summer. You can touch now, so you can wear it and get a tan."

Rogue smiled and hugged the other mutant. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and thanked Remy again. It wasn't a secret that Remy really liked her, but he understood that she was off limits in an extraordinary way.

Slowly, as the morning continued on and gifts were completely opened, the winter residents of the Mansion milled about doing various festive activities. Around noon Rogue found Kitty and Alison pilfering some of Moira's special hot cocoa.

"Do you think it's spiked?" Kitty asked as she inhaled the aromatic scent of the drink.

Alison nodded, and she answered Kitty between sips. "Definitely. There's a half empty bottle of Amaretto in one of the higher cabinets near the sink, and we're never suppose to have any alcohol on school grounds anyway." Alison peeked out the window quickly before she refilled her cup. "Moira wouldn't let the younger students have any hot cocoa from this pot either."

"Hey you two." Rogue said finally.

Startled, Kitty grabbed the pot of cocoa and phased it into the wall.

"Rogue! Gosh, you scared me." Kitty's shoulders dropped in relief as she pulled the phased pot out of the wall. As a bit sloshed out of the pot and onto the stove, Alison squawked in protest.

"Careful. Don't waste a drop. It's so good." Alison punctuated the 'so,' and emphasized her point by rolling her eyes upwards.

Kitty poured out a cup for Rogue and the three girls sat down at the kitchen table.

"Where did Wolverine drive you this morning? You were up really early and he peeled out of the driveway like no one's business." Kittle popped open the jar of marshmallows on the counter and dumped the fluffy, white candies into her drink.

"Logan drove me to the courier's office to rush mail my application to Muir Island. We had to go to four companies before we found one that was open on Christmas Day."

"I can't believe you're going. I know you'll get in because you're grades are really good. And I'm happy, but," Alison's shoulders slumped and her eyes brimmed slightly with tears. "Both of you are leaving me." She said sadly.

"You'll just have to visit us." Kitty said happily. She knew that Alison was the only girl from their 'graduating class' to be remaining in North America. "And it's not like you're going to be staying at the Mansion. You've got plans too."

Alison sighed, and nodded.

"Yeah, but still, I'll miss days like today."

Rogue, who was sitting in between the three, gripped the hands of her friends around her. "Distance never determined friendship. Today won't be the last day we'll have."

Alison raised an eyebrow before smiling wryly.

"I think I saw a little bit of Dr. Grey in you just now."

Kitty snickered.

"Me too. Wow, you've changed from the days where you use to sulk around dressed all in black." Kitty drank the remaining contents of her cup, and let out a tiny burp. "Gone are those days."

Rogue smiled and shrugged.

"Change is good. Look where it got us."

"You said it." Alison agreed full heartedly before clearing her throat and humming the melody for 'Frosty the Snowman'. Using her mutant power, she transformed the sound into flickers of light that imitated falling snow.

"You three bein' antisocial?" Remy sauntered in with Bobby following closely.

"We're having a snow ball fight. Professor Xavier said we could use some of our powers, and it's us against the faculty. Come on, you don't want to miss this. It's thirteen versus seven." Bobby said as he handed toques and mittens to the girls. His hydrokinetic powers allowed him to resist the effects of cold.

Xavier watched from the covered outdoor deck as all of his students, former and current, battled it out. He marveled with extreme pride at the level of control the younger students had in controlling their abilities to be used in the snowball fight. Bobby Drake sent blasts of icy frost against Storm, who fended it off with a wall of air. When it came turn for Storm to fight back, Bobby quickly set up a wall of ice to protect him, and his teammates.

Bobby whooped enthusiastically at his ice wall, but was caught off guard with a snowball to the side of his face from the ever agile Hank McCoy. The ice wall was then rendered into pieces from precise, controlled blasts from Scott.

The adults functioned as a military unit. Forge and Moira were purely 'assault,' because Forge's mutant powers were not very useful without technology to manipulate, and Moira, being human, didn't have any powers. Hank hurled snowballs with both his hands and feet with amazing precision. Jean and Storm were the main attack force for the adults, and Scott, who couldn't use his optic blast directly at the students, opted for being the defense of the team by blasting the snowballs in the air. The students, however, were just a discombobulated group that threw snowballs whenever the chance arose.

"Take cover!" Piotr shouted and ducked as a barrage of snowballs began to assault them.

Kitty squealed and three snowballs hit her soundly before she managed to concentrate enough to phase her body to allow the snowballs to pass through her.

"Katya, duck!" Piotr called out to her. Piotr had a fondness for the girl. At times, she was quiet and mousy, but he knew there was something fierce inside of her that could show itself given enough provocation.

Kitty looked down at Piotr, and for a second her concentration faltered. Even before the snowball contacted her face, she heard Storm whoop with joy.

"Katya!" Piotr yanked the girl down and stood up to hurl a snowball back at Storm. He knew he missed, but squatted down to help Kitty brush the snow from her face.

Kitty spat out snow and growled a curse in Russian that Piotr had taught her weeks before. Piotr grinned, but she didn't see him.

"Bobby!" She held out her hands. "Snow ball, extra big, extra slushy." She commanded.

Bobby obliged and a large ball of slushy snow formed in Kitty's hands.

"I'll be right back." Her eyes narrowed and before anyone could say anything, she phased herself into the ground.

"Katya!" Piotr shouted in dismay as he dug at the snow where Kitty had just been crouching in.

"Over there!" Artie, the youngest in their group, said as he pointed towards the teachers.

"Yeesh! Throw some snowballs guys! Bobby and I can't hold them off alone!" Rogue was tapping into the telekinesis she had copied from Jean, and was using it to hurl globules snow at the teachers. Her fledgling use of telekinesis was nothing compared to the finesse Jean commanded, but it still enabled her to land a shot or too.

Bobby muttered.

"They're not even trying! Mr. McCoy is juggling snowballs over there."

Remy scooped up a large handful of snow and packed it tightly into a ball.

"Dis will get dem to try." He said evilly as he charged the snowball with his explosive kinetic energy. "Get ready." He said, looking at Rogue and then Bobby. With a grunt, he hurled the pink glowing ball into the air. Like he expected, Cyclops, mechanically shot the ball with his optic blast, unknowingly causing it to erupt in a shower of slush and water over the teachers.

Moira yelped and ducked.

"Go!" Bobby shouted and he and his fellow students renewed his attack his opponents. The students cheered as many of the teachers were pelted with snow. They cheered even louder when Storm, who was about to counter attack, found herself dripping from the extra large, extra slushy snowball slapped onto her head by Kitty, who had phased through the ground and up behind Storm.

"Gotchya!" Kitty shouted. "Phew. That felt weird." She said to herself about phasing through the ground.

Piotr, seeing the confusion on the teacher's side, took the opportunity to claim victory.

"Charge!" He bellowed, and lead the student's to rush the teachers. The two sides collided in hoots and shouts as the students gleefully face washed the teachers. The teachers, who were outmatched almost two to one, admitted defeat.

"Well played!" Hank said as he shook the snow from his hair.

"Nicely planned." Scott agreed as he adjusted his slightly lopsided visor. Just now was the first time, in a long time, the dark gloom that hovered over him was gone.

Bobby, Remy and Piotr looked at each other blankly. Everything had been a fluke, but it was far from them to deny it.

"Yeah, we had it all worked out." Bobby said, cockily.

Piotr nodded and slapped Remy on the back.

"If you are all done," called Xavier, "the fire is roaring inside, and I have more hot cocoa on the stove."

One by one, the staff and students stomped their way back into the house, leaving a trail of snow on the porch. Storm, the last to go inside, took one look out before she went in. Her eyes flashed white, and she released her control over the local weather. Almost immediately, storm clouds rushed in, and snow began to fall in earnest.

The rest of the day continued with the inhabitants of the X-Mansion milling about playing games or going back outside to play in the snow. Dinner time came and went, and after the sizeable amounts of food consumed, the thirteen students and seven teachers hunkered down in the large living room to watch the wide selection of DVD's available. However, even before the movie was three quarters over, every one of them was fast asleep. Xavier, who had left after dinner to visit Erik, returned to the house around 11:45pm and smiled proudly at the sleeping group he saw in the living room. Storm and Scott were asleep next to each other in the large reclining chair. Logan was in the middle of the larger couch, and was surrounded with the sleeping forms of Jubilee, Jean, Rogue and Artie. Piotr and Kitty were curled up in the bean bag chair, and Bobby and Lorna were stretched out on the floor in a sleeping bag. Remy, Alison and two others were snuggled around a giant stuffed rabbit. Moira, Hank and Forge were fast asleep on Forge's own made posturepedic bed. Two students had crawled onto the foot of this bed, and were only visible as lumps under the blanket. Xavier wheeled in closer to flicked off the T.V. He dimmed the lights and set the gas fireplace to medium before silently leaving the room. Tomorrow, he would have to remember to go through the living room's security tape and print out a freeze frame of the perfect Christmas image that he just saw.


	23. Parental consent

A/N: Here's another. This chapter sort of has a point. It's more or less satisfying a few of the unwritten aspects of Rogue and Jean that I wasn't able to do early on. And footnotes already? Ouch, i'm moving into school mode already!

New Years Day passed, and the normal day to day activities of the Mansion began once again. The older students from Rogue's year finalized the plans for their lives, and one by one, the other students returned to the school in time for the new semester. The teachers prepared their curriculums, or went about intervening in mutant-human conflicts.

The latest intervention brought them to Forest, Mississippi, where local mutant-human conflict resulted in fighting that almost killed three mutants. Storm and Wolverine brought along Bobby and Piotr for the mission. Moira stayed in the X-Jet. This was her first 'field' mission. Rogue came along too, but she was not part of the rescue mission.

Rogue climbed the narrow and rickety stairs of the old apartment building. The air smelled stale and old, and reminded her of the shacks she had to squat in early on when she was on the run as a newly exposed mutant. When she came to the right apartment door, she double checked the address scribbled on the inside of her palm before knocking lightly on the door. No one answered, so she had to knock harder.

"Coming!" Came a voice through the door before it opened.

"Papa?" Rogue said uncertainly.

The older man stood in a pair of old trousers and wore a blue, cotton flannel shirt. His once neatly trimmed mustache had spread to be a slightly unkempt beard. His hair, which had been a rich, dark brown two years before, was gray. His eyes narrowed in confusion, and then widened to almost unnatural proportions with recognition.

"Marie?" The old man spoke the word as if he was saying it for the first time.

"Papa." Marie said, affirming her identity.

Marie's father let out a pent up cry of relief and bear hugged his daughter. He pulled her out of the hallway and sat her down on the couch. Even through the joy of the reunion, Rogue was shocked at her surroundings. The apartment furnishings were old and mismatched. This was nothing like her house back in Meridian. More than one light was burned out, and a visible layer of dust was gathering on the top of the shelves.

"Where have you been? I looked for you, but you were gone so fast. Marie…" Her father babbled on asking questions about Marie's life, but midway, Rogue interrupted.

"Papa, why are you here? Why aren't you living in Meridian? I called the house, but it was another family. I had to look you up through the phone book…" Rogue trailed off as her father's body posture slumped, and for the next forty five minutes he recapped what happened. He told her of how he and her mother became targets of mutant hatred. Their house was repeatedly vandalized causing them to leave, but not before Marie's father lost his job. Since the courts deemed Marie responsible for David's sickness, Marie's family needed to pay for the substantial medical bills. This caused them to liquidize almost everything they had of considerable financial value.

Rogue sat in silence for a while as she digested the news. She knew that Meridian was not particularly mutant friendly, and even she had been a bit anti-mutant before she realized she was one.

"And Mama?" Rogue asked tentatively.

"She works at the dentists as a receptionist, and at the grocer's on the weekends." Her father's eyes watered. "I'm so glad you are well." He moved closer to kiss her on the cheek, but stopped short as he remembered what happened to David.

"It's okay. I can touch." Marie demonstrated with a quick peck on her father's cheek.

"You're cured?" He asked hopefully.

Marie frowned.

"Mutation isn't a sickness. I just learned control."

"Oh." He said, embarrassed. "I didn't mean…"

"Christopher? You left the door open!" A voice cut through the air, and both Marie and her father stood up in alarm.

"Julia…" Christopher said as Marie's mother walked into the room.

"Who are…?" The unfinished question hung in the air.

"Mama." Marie searched her mother's eyes for the same spark of joy she saw in her father's, but all she saw was the look of growing animosity.

"You." Her mother's voice dripped venom. "Get out, you freak."

"Mama." Marie protested. In less than a second, Rogue felt herself transported back into time when she first developed her powers. She felt vulnerable, helpless, small and cornered.

"Don't call me that. This is your fault." Julia's brown eyes blazed in fury as she stalked closer to Rogue.

"Julia, don't." Christopher stopped in between, but Julia glared him down.

"Don't try to protect her. Because of you, she's a mutant." Her words cut right through to his heart and soul, and he faltered. During the past year and a half, Julia had researched everything she could on mutants. She knew the mutant gene was passed down through the father, and this had soured the marriage. Julia looked back at Marie.

"Out."

"No Julia. She is our daughter. She needs us." Marie's father challenged.

"She doesn't need us. Look at her." She pointed at Marie's trench coat. It was the rich leather trench coat she had borrowed from Jean. "She's done better than us. No doubt she's preying on humans with her powers." Julia directed her attention to Marie once more. "Get out, or else I will call the police. They know you're a mutant. They won't hesitate to use force."

Marie looked at her father, but he had his back turned to her as he was watching his wife. With one last look at her mother, Marie spun around and fled the apartment. As she raced down the stairs, she heard her father call out for her not to go. Marie almost stopped and ran back, but she heard her mother shout for her to leave once more. At the top of the stairs, her father came into view. Marie looked up at him, and saw how his eyes begged her to stay, but this was trumped by her mother's repeated threat to call the police.

"Muir Island University. I'm going to go to school there." Rogue shouted up at her father before fleeing the building and back into the life she had lived the last two years.

Half an hour later, as the X-Jet cut through the lower stratosphere to return back to the Mansion, Storm stretched out her neck and looked behind her.

Rogue was sitting with Bobby and Piotr in one corner, and Wolverine was, as usual, squirming in his X-Man uniform in the front passenger seat. Moira was treating the three mutants they had picked up. One had a broken arm. He was found under some rubble. Apparently, he had the ability to manipulate seismic waves, but had lost control and caused a localized earthquake to topple the building next to him. Another was a quiet, lavender skinned girl, who was found unconscious in a pool of blood that was, thankfully, not hers. The last was an older, dark eyed girl. She covered herself in a cloak, but Storm had seen the bone protrusions that extended from the girl's skin. Storm turned her attention back to flying. She frowned as she noted how as the years passed, the situations in which the X-Men found new mutants were getting more and more violent.

"Storm?" The intercom blinked to life. It was Xavier's voice. "How did everything go?"

"It went well, Professor. We picked up the mutant children and there were no casualties. Moira is tending to the children now."

"And the others?"

Storm smiled.

"Bobby and Piotr did very well."

Xavier nodded. This pleased him. He hoped that one day Bobby and Piotr would take a position as an X-Man.

"Very good. I'll see you when you get home."

Jean stood back from her packed boxes and took a mental inventory of everything she had in them. In less than a week she would be on her way to Muir Island, and wanted to make sure she didn't leave anything behind. Jean turned around to watch the door as Rogue walked in. Jean smiled, and sent Rogue the mental equivalent of a kiss.

"Do what you needed to?" Jean had felt something amiss through the rapport from Rogue earlier that day, but waited for Rogue to explain.

Rogue flopped over on the bed and sighed.

"I guess. I saw my parents. My dad was happy to see me, but my mom," Rogue paused. "She wasn't so pleased."

Jean sat down on the bed beside Rogue and the two looked each other in the eye. In that instant, Rogue replayed mentally what happened at the reunion.

"Ah, yes." Jean said knowingly. Through her years as being a teacher at the Mansion, she was more than aware of parental reactions to mutations in children. "At least your father is understanding, but it's a shame for your mother." Jean wrapped her arm around Rogue's waist, and used her other hand to comb away strands of hair from Rogue's face.

"What were your parents like?" Rogue let her head drop onto the pillow.

Jean's eye's unfocused for a moment as she remembered her development as a mutant.

"You know that it was through Annie Richardson's death that my powers manifested prematurely, and this caused me to shut myself off from the rest of the world. My father was a colleague of Professor Xavier, and so my father was told to send me to the Professor. When I grew older, and more capable of managing my powers, Professor Xavier and I told my parents[1]. They were shocked, but I was lucky. My father is very open minded, and so is my mother. Both were just very thankful for the Professor helping me. Sarah said a part of her always suspected." Jean played with a lock of Rogue's hair. "My family was always very close, and I think it helped that my mutant powers didn't manifest itself in an outwardly violent way. I think it would have been different if my telepathic powers developed in a way that caused harm to others.

"Also, if you take into consideration the wide spectrum of mutant abilities, telepathy seems to be the easiest to understand from a non-mutant perspective. Humankind's evolution revolves around how our minds developed to be our specialization. Instead of teeth or claws, humankind developed mentally, so maybe some could consider telepathy and psychokinesis as the next step." Jean's scientific mind began working and formulating hypothesizes. "Maybe that's why telepathy is more prolific as a mutation[2]. Maybe telepathy is the mutation that would most likely occur in people if there weren't any specific environmental triggers. I'll have to tell Duncan this." Jean looked back at Rogue with her eyes filled with growing wonder.

Rogue laughed lightly and rolled on top of Jean.

"Like usual, you've lost me, but I like how you can still get excited over things like this. You're such a big geek."

Jean slid her hands up Rogue's sweater.

"I have to admit, you bring it out of me."

Rogue kissed Jean and lightly tugged with her teeth at Jean's lower lip.

"We've got an hour to kill before dinner." Rogue mumbled through her lips. Both Rogue and Jean were expertly beginning to undress each other.

"That won't be nearly enough time." Jean whispered coyly into Rogue's ear before giving it a teasing lick.

--We'll manage.—Rogue replied through the rapport.

A/N: Yes.. this was short. But isn't this a good thing? Putting out another chapter in like.. less than half a year?? :D Please review. I like reviews…

* * *

[1] Jean Grey's father is Dr. John Grey, a professor of history at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson in New York. Sarah is Jean's older sister, who in the comics is dead. 

[2] You know I'm right. Hello, look at Psylocke, Emma Frost, Xavier, and the other mutants through Marvel history that have manifested some sort of low telepathic capabilities… I'm on to something. I know it.


	24. Gift

A/N: It's Alive! Here's another chapter. I managed to explain some things that I thought needed explaining. Like… how Jean is a medical doctor at the young ripe age of 27… Oh, and she's 28 now. She had a birthday, but I never wrote about it. Disclaimer: I don't own Finding Nemo or any lines I choose to quote and not reference… Sorry for the grammatical mistakes. This hasn't been beta-ed.

I almost don't want to post it.. it's marking the end of a chapter in my life…

Final words: "Evolution Squared" was a title I created with the help of Chele. However, Peter Kropotkin, a Russian Anarchist wrote this "We maintain that under any circumstances sociability is the greatest advantage in the struggle for life. Those species which willingly or unwillingly abandon it are doomed to decay; while those animals which know best how to combine, have the greatest chances of survival and of further evolution" That said, co-operation is what helps us advance as a species, and I think my Evolution Squared showed that through the development of Jean and Rogue.

-------------------------

"Excited?" Storm shifted her weight and readjusted the wool blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders.

"A little bit."

"This place won't be the same with out you."

Jean smiled at her best friend.

"Well, it hasn't really been the same place since Marie got here. But, change is good."

Storm nodded and sighed. The two women were sitting on the roof of the tallest part of Mansion. Ever since Ororo and Jean were in their teens, the rooftop was a place in which they could go to avoid the problems of below. Usually, it was Storm who would fly them up, but this time, Jean had levitated them up using her telekinesis. The only way the two women could manage sitting in the chilly morning air was because Storm manipulated the surrounding clouds to have a gap in which the sun could shine through directly onto them.

"Remember when it was just you, me and Scott? It seemed so easy back then."

Jean let out a soft laugh.

"It was never easy with you. You kept stealing my stuff!"

Storm smiled, and from her left hand she produced Jean's set of keys.

"And I still can."

Jean snatched back her keys and glared playfully at the other woman.

"Always the pick pocket."

Storm nodded.

"Well, every group needs it. But, now that Remy's here, I think I can retire my pick pocket skills."

The two women sighed again and lapsed into a moment of silence as they reminisced about their past.

"You'll have to visit. I'll need your help with the weather there. Moira said it rains a lot in that region." Jean said absently.

"Just call and I'll see what I can do for you." Storm shifted again, and felt one of her muscles pop and loosen up.

Neither Jean nor Ororo wanted the moment to end, but as powerful as Jean would one day become, stopping time would never be within her grasp. So, the telepath and the weather goddess sat in blissful silence as they enjoyed a few more minutes in the snow. Below them inside the house, Rogue's friends helped her move the luggage onto the X-Jet.

"Where do you want these?" Piotr asked. His voice had a slight metallic ring to it as he was in his metallic form.

"Over there by Jean's other lab equipment." Rogue said, after quickly asking Jean mentally.

"What's in dis?" Remy asked breathlessly as he pushed and shoved at another metal crate.

"Jean's stuff. It's lab equipment."

Remy pushed at the box once more, but his feet slid from him.

"It's like a dead body!" He huffed as he tried once more before plopping down for a rest.

"Nothing that interesting Remy." The crate in front of Remy levitated and floated up into the X-Jet cargo hold. Jean and Storm walked into the hanger bay of the X-Jet. Flecks of white snow still clung to their clothing. Jean knelt down by the Cajun boy. "Did you pull anything?"

Remy shook his head, but when he went to stand, he felt a sharp pain in his back. He swore sharply in French and sat back down.

Jean started to help the boy up, but a sudden pain in her head caused her to rapidly blink her eyes. In the split seconds between blinking, she swore she saw Remy's form dissolve into atoms. The atom form of Remy showed a glowing red mass in his back, and she knew it was the iliocostalis muscle that Remy had pulled. Her rapid blinking brought confusion to Remy and the atom form that Jean saw registered the mood chance. Jean opened her mouth to say something, but Professor Xavier spoke first.

"Jean?" His friendly voice betrayed nothing of his inner thoughts.

"Huh?" Jean's eyesight returned to normal and she looked up at her mentor. She hadn't realized he had come into the room, and a quick scan of everyone in the room told her no one but Remy had seen her strange state.

"Is something the matter?" Xavier asked.

Jean tried to speak but she realized her mouth had gotten paper dry.

Swallowing quickly, she answered back.

"Just excited to go I guess."

Xavier pressed his lips into a smile and nodded.

"Remy, why don't you go to Moira. I'm sure she can help you with your back."

The thief nodded, and went off to the infirmary. It wouldn't be for many years to come that he would realize the significance of what had just happened.

"Lunch is ready. The students are out in the kitchen eating, but perhaps you would like to join me in Storm's arboretum?"

Jean nodded and watched as the Professor turned his wheelchair around and left the hanger.

"All done!" Allison cheered and the room filled with a sudden array of lights and colours. She had programmed the speakers in the hanger to play music while they moved Jean and Rogue's things. At the completion of the task, Allison used her gift to send rays of colour all throughout the hanger.

"Phew. Just in time for lunch too." Lorna said as she swept a sweat-dampened lock of hair from her face.

"Yeah, Forge and Moira made lunch." Bobby said. He came up beside his green haired girlfriend and sent a light breeze of frost to her neck with an outstretched hand.

Lorna giggled and shivered at the same time.

"Thanks." She almost purred the words out.

Bobby smiled at her and dropped his hand.

"Are we ready? I'm pretty hungry."

Piotr nodded and shifted out of his organic metal form.

Rogue saw Jean lag behind and went to her.

"How was your time outside?" Marie asked pleasantly.

"Nice." Jean's mind had cleared surprisingly quickly, and the significance of what had happened faded. "Chilly, but that was a given." Jean smiled at her partner and looped her arm around Rogue's as both slowly left the hanger.

"So tomorrow we leave." Rogue said with a bit of a sigh.

"So we do." Jean smiled fondly at the younger woman. "Not getting second thoughts are you?"

"Of course not, but I'm going to miss the Mansion with all the people, and noises and random explosions from training sessions gone wrong. I'll miss it."

Jean laughed lightly.

"I'm sure you'll survive." She stopped at the hall staircase just before the kitchen. "The Professor and I will be in the arboretum for lunch. I'll see you later, okay?"

Rogue nodded and the two women went their separate ways.

Jean strolled into the arboretum a few minutes later. The air had an earthy, natural smell to it that Jean loved. The sound of rainfall caught her attention, and she looked upwards.

"Ororo!" Jean called out. "Are you joining us too?"

"Of course. I'll be there in a moment" From Storm's hand, a tiny rain cloud floated above a hanging basket. The conjured cloud drizzled its tiny raindrops onto the lush green leaves of the plant for a moment longer before vanishing completely. Storm floated down to Jean and both proceeded to the table that seated four.

"I'm going to get the drinks. I'll be right back." Ororo quickly slipped into a separate room, and left Jean.

Jean knew she wasn't alone. Turning slowly, she saw him standing behind her.

"Hello Jean. I'm glad you could make it to lunch." His voice was low, and showed no signs of aggression. His words were not forced, and only echoed a hint of sorrow and regret.

"Scott." She acknowledged him, and he stepped forward. She wanted to read his mind so badly to see what he was thinking. The two hadn't really spoken or been in a room alone together since Emma left.

Scott stepped forward and took hold of her hands. Although he never was linked with her mind, Scott could read Jean's body language from across the room.

"A little too late now, but read my mind if you like, Jean. It's open to you now." A slight twitch in his brow betrayed his pain, but he had come to deal with the fact he lost her.

Jean's brow twitched slightly and took a quick peek. She tilted her head slightly, never breaking eye contact with Scott.

"You organized this?" She asked softly as Scott led her to the lunch table.

"Yes. Current and recent events notwithstanding, the four of us will be separated for the first time for a long time." Scott picked up a picture that was placed in the middle of the table. It was a picture of younger days. Xavier was in the middle, seated in a manual wheelchair, Ororo was floating in the air above him, Scott was standing proudly on the right of Xavier and Jean stood on the other side. The picture was taken some twelve years before, but had been the hallmark picture for Xavier, and his original students.

Scott picked up the card that was underneath the picture and gave the card and picture to Jean.

"I don't expect you to forget what has happened over the last few months." Scott paused slightly and flexed his jaw. A part of him was still too stubborn to forgive Jean or Marie for the pain they caused him, but another part, wanted to move on. "But, I hope you'll at least remember us from before."

"I would have never forgotten." She replied softly as she fingered the metal picture frame.

The corners of Scott's lips lifted for a moment into a faint smile before he turned to look at Storm strolling in with pitchers of some exotic drink.

"Are we all ready?" Storm asked as her eyes shifted rapidly between Scott and Jean. Her tone of voice had a hint of trepidation, and her body language was slightly tense. However, since both Scott and Jean were still in the room, things probably went as well as could be.

"Yes, yes we are." Scott said, as he helped Jean into a chair.  
Storm's face lit up and she smiled broadly.

"Thank the Goddess."

Jean laughed. Lately, Storm felt stuck between the unspoken feud between Scott and Jean. Storm couldn't ask for more than Scott and Jean being able to sit and talk to each other rationally.

"We're ready then? I'm dieing to try this new dish Scott cooked for us." Xavier called as he wheeled in with a large plate of food resting on his legs.

Jean's eyebrow shot up and she looked bemusedly at Scott, who was blushing ever so slightly.

"Just something I whipped up last minute." Scott said as he helped Xavier serve lunch. Scott never liked to cook. In his mind, if it took longer to cook than to eat it, it wasn't worth it. However, Scott did have an amazing knack for the culinary arts.

For the next hour, the recent past melted away. There was no mutant registration act; there was no Magneto, no interpersonal disputes, and no real anti-mutant movements. There was nothing. There was only Xavier and his students he had taken in to help him shape a world where mutants and humans could live together peacefully. The four adults chatted and laughed, remembered the good things they had forgotten in light of recent events. They talked about the students they taught now, and of how the future would still hold more surprises and how little by little they were making a difference in the lives they touched. When the food was all eaten, and the glasses were all empty, the four quickly cleaned up and made their way onto the main level. More students had returned back to the Mansion in preparation for the spring semester. Some had heard that Jean and Rogue were leaving, and had come back early to say their goodbyes.

The night came upon them quickly, and when the evening was over and everyone had retired to his or her rooms, Rogue took one last walk through the halls of the place she called home. She remembered the first time she was here, and how scared she was. Rogue remembered how the X-Men had showed her a world of possibilities and through patience and understanding had helped her master her gift. Marie smiled. Gift. It wasn't a curse now, and it wasn't just a 'power.' It was a gift. Half her heart was heavy with the knowledge that she would be leaving her friends, and that tonight would be the end of a wonderful and intricate chapter in her life. She sighed, pulled the robe closer around her shoulders, and stopped glass door that lead into the backyard garden. Her breath was visible on the cold glass, and small icicles could be seen developing on the cracks of the door. She smiled again, and imagined Forge installing some new invention to increase the heat efficiency of the Mansion. I'll be back. She thought sternly. Maybe during the summer semester she would come back, but Rogue knew she would be back. Yawning, and suddenly realizing how tired she really was, Rogue made her way back to her now bare room.

Jean was also awake, but just barely. In her lap were the old photo albums that chronicled the life in the Mansion. Almost fifteen years of history surrounded her. She was a telepath, and according to Xavier, telepaths never forgot anything. This was true. Her memory was the main reason she was able to get a medical doctorate by the time she was twenty-seven. As she flipped through the pictures, it was like walking through time. She remembered the pictures she saw as if it were some sort of movie. Jean stopped on one particular picture and fingered the old print. It was a picture from about five years ago. Jean had come back from a medical practicum, and returned to find that Xavier, Storm and Scott had decided to actively go into the field to use their mutant powers. The picture was of their first uniforms. Scott and Ororo stood proudly in their new garbs, where Jean remembered herself shifting nervously in her suit. It was during this time Scott and Ororo adopted code names, and had asked her to do the same. But Jean's power was never like Scott and Storm's. They were the ones with the offensive powers, and Jean had early on convinced herself that the only reason why she was even part of the X-Men was because she was Scott's girlfriend. She resigned herself to being a support member, secretly feeling never quite good enough to be part of their team. Being a doctor and an academic by nature, Jean felt like a fish out of water running around the city at night in leather armor. Jean tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.

"_No, I think it's better I don't have a name."_ _A younger Jean said as she poured over a thick medical textbook about advanced human anatomy._

"_Just a code one. Ororo and I have one, it would be nice if you had one too." Scott said as he flipped through another one of Jean's books._

_Jean crinkled her nose._

"_I think I'll just stick with being a doctor."_

_Scott sighed._

_"Well, will you help us out if we need your help?"_

_"Of course. I just think my capacities are better suited away from the…battlefield." Jean said as she rubbed her eyes. Thankfully she only had to read her textbooks once, but still, it was a monumental task nonetheless._

_Xavier came in beside her, and smiled fondly at his first student._

_"What you're reading at is the reason why I switched from medicine to academia." _

_Jean stretched her neck._

_"I can't imagine what it's like for non-telepaths to have to do this. This is hell."_

_"Well, most doctors don't have the advantage of remembering absolutely everything."_

Jean remembered fondly. Xavier had supported her decision to not be in the field as much as Scott and Storm were. Instead, Xavier had her help in the public relations of mutants, and this instead turned to be a better calling for Jean's skill.

Checking her watch, she muttered angrily to herself. It was 2 am, and she should have been in bed hours ago. With the help of her telekinesis, she quickly put the photo albums and went back to her room. Rogue was already sound asleep in the bed, and only moved slightly as the bed adjusted to Jean's weight. Jean curled around Rogue's body and draped her arm over Rogue's belly.

"… seamonkey has my money…" Rogue muttered through her sleep.

Jean smiled, buried her face into Rogue's scented hair and promptly fell asleep.

"Goodbye! Oh! I'm going to miss you!" Alison bear hugged Rogue and refused to let her go.

"Visit me." Rogue managed to gasp out.

Alison finally disengaged and stood back, pouting. Kitty hugged Rogue next, albeit much gentler.

"If I get into my school in England, we'll have to get together." Kitty said.

Rogue nodded. It was very early that morning, and in the X-Jet hanger, the air seemed just as cold as it was outside.

"Ready?" Storm called from inside the jet.

Rogue nodded and walked to the jet. Piotr and Bobby were there too, and together with Kitty and Alison, they called out their goodbyes.

"Hey." Logan stepped up and hugged Rogue.

"Hey, yourself." Rogue hugged the cigar-smoke smelling man. Without him in the very beginning, life would have been very different.

"Take care of yourself there. And take care of Jean for me." Logan fingered the white lock of hair and patted her head.

"Visit me?" Rogue asked hopefully.

"I'll try." Logan placed a kiss on her forehead and stepped back. Rogue, a personification of his humanity was leaving. He looked up into the cockpit of the X-Jet and saw Jean watching him. He smiled and with three long strides, he walked up to her and hugged her.

"Bye, Redd. I promise I won't knock on Cykes when you're gone."

Jean laughed and hugged Logan back.

"Thanks."

Logan jumped off the X-Jet platform and smiled one last time at Rogue as she ascended the jet.

"X-Jet ready for take off. Strap in everyone, take off in… three…" Storm counted down.

"Two…" Alison, Piotr, Bobby and Kitty said in unison from the platform.

"One." Scott said from the air traffic control box. He pressed a button and the roof of hanger opened into the clear, blue sky.

Jean watched the school disappear as the X-Jet pulled higher and higher into the atmosphere. Storm and Xavier had come on the flight as well. Storm used her powers to ensure that the weather was as clear as possible, and Xavier came along to help fly the jet home after Muir Island.

"Should I switch to auto-pilot?" Jean asked as she read the jet's consol.

"No, I can fly it faster. But, if you're tired, you can turn to controls over completely to me and go into the back and sleep."

Jean couldn't argue with that as she yawned. She and Rogue had woken at six in the morning to ensure everything was set to go. Rogue was already dozing in the back seat, and Xavier was enjoying his English breakfast tea as if eating breakfast on the world's fastest aircraft was something he did everyday.

"I can help Ororo fly if need be. Go and sleep." Xavier said.

Jean nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to a seat in the back. She didn't sleep right away. Instead, she watched the earth below her zip past her at unimaginable speeds. The sun was getting brighter, and Storm activated the automatic tinting on the X-Jet's windows. In about four hours, they would be on Muir Island, and Jean and Rogue would begin their new lives.

Yawning, Jean finally succumbed to a light sleep, dreaming of the world of possibilities that lay in front of her.

-- If you need us, we will come… -- Xavier said to the both of them in their minds as Jean and Rogue stood watching the X-Jet lift off into the sky. Both women waved at the jet until it disappeared into the blue sky, and didn't stop watching the sky until the surrounding clouds rushed back together, heralding the end of Storm's weather manipulation.

Standing, in the darkening sky with the rain already soaking them to the skin, Jean and Rogue turned to each other. Smiling, they linked arms, kissed deeply and went back into their apartment. There was no sadness of leaving the Mansion. No regret of leaving friends and family. Today was a new day, and tomorrow would be another. The past year had seen them grow together, evolve together, and the next years to come would see to more.

The End.

Please review. Although it has taken me months and months to write, I truly enjoyed the process. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and stuck by my fic. I can't tell you how much I loved writing this fic. I hope it won't be my last, but only time will tell. Thanks for the ride everyone!


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